Hot Decadent Rising (Breath of Darkness) (16 page)

With his head down and ears pressed
back, Samuel growled from a safe distance away. Eli knew he was waiting for him
to take his wolf form before killing him, but he had no intention of shifting
into his wolf form. It would truly piss Samuel off, and that’s why he wouldn’t
do it. The pack was watching. They both knew that if while in his wolf form he
killed Eli while in his human form the pack would have little to no respect for
him. Their human sides were naturally weaker than their wolf sides. 

The six locals present, wanting to kill
Eli, were getting restless but his pack outnumbered them and easily held them
back. For the most part the locals didn’t cause him any reason to worry, but
Cain was faced off with an older, larger and more experienced male determined
to join Samuel and gang up on Eli. Cain would fight to the death to prevent it.
With the younger wolf in danger, he decided it was time to end the standoff.

Samuel charged and slammed into him
again. It was a decent hit. He actually knocked him flat on his ass. Standing
straight and removing the illusion of being weak and wounded, Eli frowned.
“This is getting old.”

Samuel was shocked and stood frozen. It
didn’t take long for him to recover. The fur on his neck and his back raised,
he began snapping his jaws and snarling as he circled Eli from a secure
distance and then he lunged forward to bite him. 

Eli caught him in the snout with a
closed fist. “Just so you know
,
you’re really starting
to piss me off.”

The tension was building in the
atmosphere. Samuel was getting angrier by the moment. The locals were getting
rowdy as they fought to push past the barrier his pack had established. It
didn’t worry him at all. They didn’t have a chance in hell, but he was
concerned when he noticed Samuel glance at Cain. He knew he wanted revenge
against the younger wolf for deceiving him. Eli was ready to move at the first
sign of Samuel making a move to kill Cain.

Cain already had his hands full keeping
the larger or older local back. As a fully matured male with more experience,
Samuel was also faster and stronger than Cain. It was a fact of nature. With Cain
distracted by the local, Samuel could kill the younger wolf in seconds with one
bone crushing bite.

Eli extended his arms to his sides.
“Want another go at me?” He laughed out loud. “Or would you prefer to wait
until I’ve turned my back to you again?”

Instantly enraged, Samuel charged. Eli
braced himself and caught him midair, and then threw him into a massive tree
trunk. The collision was brutal. He heard Samuel’s bones cracking. He waited as
Samuel slowly got up onto all fours. “Again?”

Foaming at the mouth, Samuel snarled. He
took a step back as if he might attempt to flee, but suddenly lunged forward.
In an instant Eli shifted into his wolf midair and took Samuel down onto his
back. Realizing Cain was on his back struggling to break free from the other
wolf’s death grip around his throat, Eli ended his own battle. He crushed
Samuel’s throat in his jaws and then immediately knocked the local off Cain. In
a matter of seconds, he killed the other wolf in the same manner he’d killed
Samuel.

Throwing his head back, he howled. It
was a call to every member of his pack to rejoin him. It was a challenge to any
local wanting to die. He was the one and only alpha, and he was able and
willing to prove it again and again. No male would ever attempt to take what
was his or harm those in his care and live to tell about it.

In a matter of minutes he was surrounded
by his pack. It would’ve been a perfect moment. Normally, being in their midst
after being separated for so long would have felt like coming home. They were
his family. It would never be the same. Being with them would never complete
him until Kara was at his side where she belonged.  

He didn’t offer any explanations. He
didn’t bother with making excuses. They didn’t except or want it either. He’d
proven that he was their alpha and that was all that mattered. After making
sure Cain’s status as second in command was understood, he divided the pack and
sent them out to protect Kara and collect information concerning father. He decided
to visit Tom.

~Eight~

“THAT’S
MY DRINK. What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Tom asked

The man placed the empty shot glass on
the bar. “Was it?”

“What are you, a fucking moron? You knew
it was mine.”

“You’re right. I did.”

“Who the fuck do you think you are?”

“Eli Thomas.”

“That name doesn’t mean a damn thing to
me. I’ve never heard it before.” He looked at the bartender. “Have you?”

“Nope.” The bartender put down another
drink.

“After today you’ll never forget it.”

When Tom reached out to pick it up Eli
grabbed onto his wrist. “If you don’t get the hell out of here right now you’ll
leave in fucking body bag.”

“Who’s going to put me in it? You?” Eli
laughed out loud.

“You’re damn right I will.” Tom reached
behind his back with his other hand and pulled his 9mm Glock out from his waist
band.

Crushing the bones in his wrist with one
hand and ripping the gun out of his hand with the other, Eli stood up. “It
isn’t as easy to shoot someone unless you first cuff the person’s hands behind
their back, is it?”

When Eli released his wrist Tom cradled
it against his chest with his other hand. The excruciating pain was positively
unbearable. He knew his attacker was talking about Kara. But how would he or
anyone else besides Leland know about it? “What do you want?” To say he was
relieved to see the bar’s nearly seven foot tall bouncer approach Eli from
behind with a baseball bat in hand was a serious understatement.

 Eli pressed the barrel of the
Glock to Tom’s head. “To kill you.” He lowered the gun, crushed it in his fist
just as easily as he’d crushed Tom’s wrist and then he tossed the weapon onto
the floor. “But I can’t do it just yet. Soon though. Very, very soon.”

The bouncer swung the bat. Eli shoved
Tom off the barstool onto the floor and turned to catch the bat before it hit
him. He yanked the bat out of the bouncer’s hands. “That would’ve given me one
hell of a migraine.” He swung and broke the bat across the bouncer’s stomach.
The bouncer went down on all fours. “Stay.” He started to get up. Eli planted a
boot in his jaw hurling him backward about ten feet where he remained
motionless sprawled out on his back.

Tom started to get up. People were
shouting and running for the exits. He planned to follow and get lost in the
crowd, until Eli turned to face him and shook his head. “You’re not intending
to leave, are you?”

“I don’t have any quarrels with you.
Just leave.” Scooting on his ass and cradling his broken wrist on his lap, Tom
inched back away from Eli until he’d backed himself against a wall.

“But I do have a problem with you.”

“What?” Tom asked. “I don’t even know
you.”

“That you’re still breathing.”

He watched the bouncer get to his feet
and, stumbling and clutching his ribs, he glanced around as if looking for a
weapon. Eli bent over and reached for Tom. The bouncer picked up a metal
barstool and lifted it over his head. Eli grabbed onto Tom’s throat and lifted
him. The bouncer whacked the back of Eli’s head with the stool.

Rather than go down as he should’ve, Eli
winced. Lifting his lip in a smile that looked more like a snarl he dropped
Tom. “You’ll have to excuse me for a minute or two. It’s seems someone else is
a bit more eager than you to play.”

He turned around. “I told you to stay.”

“I’m going to fuck you up.” The bouncer
threw the barstool at him.

Eli caught it. “Are you?”

“I’m going to rip your motherfucking
head off your shoulders and shove it up your ass.”

“Wow. Such mean words. But sorry. I’m
going to have to decline your offer. It doesn’t sound particularly pleasurable
at all.” Eli threw the stool. The impact launched the bouncer all the way to
the opposite side of the bar.

Eli turned to Tom before the bouncer hit
the floor. Tom knew he was as good as dead when Eli picked him up by the throat
with one hand. Something was wrong with the man’s eyes. They weren’t natural.
They were glowing like golden brown flames. His grip was like a vise. He
couldn’t breathe. His feet dangling, he panicked. He was alone with a madman.
Every single one of the patrons and workers had fled the building. Choking to
death, arms and legs flailing, he pissed his pants.

***

Distracting
Eli, he heard a woman scream beneath him. It was so faint, that he wouldn’t
have heard it without his supernatural hearing. “How do I get to the basement?”
Realizing Tom couldn’t answer with his fist clenched around his throat, he
released him. “Where’s the entrance to the basement?”

Coughing and gagging, Tom pointed.

 Moving too fast for any human eye to
follow, Eli headed down into the basement. Once down there he saw two men
holding woman at gunpoint. He also sensed the presence of a vampire. He stood
completely still as he used his mind to study the unseen, but couldn’t pinpoint
the vampire’s exact location.

He knew they were going to shoot her. He
had to act. His image a blur, he moved to place himself in front of her just as
they fired. When she fell down he dropped to his knees.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

He felt bullets rip through his body.
Though it hurt like hell, no matter how many times he was shot the bullets
wouldn’t kill him. He remained perfectly calm and able to handle the situation.
He could’ve stood up, but the woman couldn’t. He remained on his knees to make
sure his body shielded her from any more bullets as he penetrated the man’s
mind.

He saw the sudden, rising terror in the
man’s eyes. And knew the man saw the beast, the wolf staring at him. For a
second the man tried to resist, but he couldn’t. Under a powerful compulsion, he
turned the gun and pressed it against his own head and then he pulled the
trigger.

 Before the man’s lifeless body hit
the ground, Eli turned to check on the woman. It was Emily. Kara’s friend. She
was holding her shoulder and struggling to get up. Blood was seeping from her
fingers. He held her down. She was losing too much blood. “Don’t move.”

“I don’t know who the hell you are, but
you have to get out of here,” she said. “They aren’t alone. They have a…”

“I know. A vampire. You’re losing too
much blood. We need to get you out of here.”

She shook her head. “Just go. My friend
is coming to help me. He will take care of the vampire. There’re afraid of
him.”

“Everyone left the building. No one is
coming to help you. Keep your hand pressed over the wound to slow the
bleeding.” Scooping her up, he started to stand up with her, but the sight of a
vampire crouched in the corner stopped him dead in his tracks.

“Where do you think you’re taking her?”
The vampire stood up.

“I have to put you down for a minute, Emily.”
Keeping his focus on the vampire, he lowered her onto the ground. “It’ll be
okay. Just stay put.”

“That’s it.” The vampire took a step
toward them. “Now be a good fucking mutt and get your ass away from her.”

“You’re not touching her.”

“She belongs to Jeremy Lang. I’m taking
her to him.”

***

Though
it appeared Eli had the upper hand, Emily knew the vampire was going to kill
him. She learned over the past few months that vampires were hundreds of times
stronger than humans.
Don’t fear for poor old Eli. He came here tonight
looking for trouble. He’s much more capable than he looks.

I have to do something to help him.
  But what?
She’d shot the vampire earlier when the other vampire, Jeremy, left him to
watch over her while the conversion took place. She’d thought it was dead.
Obviously, it wasn’t.

You only have to wait for me. I am close
now
. 

She closed her eyes. She felt Demetri's
presence in her mind, but she also felt another presence with her. It was
definitely a male presence.
Who is it, Demetri?

Focus. Call him to you. Tell him what
the vampire has done to you. Let him know that you’ve been turned.

When she focused she realized it was
Zack.
No. I won’t do it. He left me.

She opened her eyes. The vampire and Eli
were a blur. The two were locked in battle, a battle to the death.

Open your mind to him. Show him what is
happening. Allow him to feel your wounds. Call him. Tell him you are afraid,
tell him you’re in pain and he will come to you.
Nothing will
stop him.

For the first time ever, Emily sensed
something very shady in Demetri. She tried to get up.
I won’t do it.
Her
head was spinning.
 

She felt waves of anger and frustration
and knew it was Demetri.
He didn’t want to leave you. He forced himself to
leave you, to protect you. If you call him now, he will come.