Pool of Crimson (26 page)

“If I’d known how dangerous you actually were, I would have allowed Candace to kill you sooner, when she wanted.” Ethan’s voice was deep and filled with regret as his fingers tightened around my throat. “You’ve become too dangerous, even to use.”

“Dominique, do something,” Patrick pleaded with the Ebony Goddess, his voice cracking as he spoke. She stood to Ethan’s right, a pleased smile on her cruel, but beautiful face. His desperation hit me hard and mixed with my own, creating a toxic cocktail that sent my fight or flight instincts into overdrive. I clawed harder at Ethan’s hands and wrists, anything to get free. I had to get free. As much as I wasn’t afraid of death, I wasn’t quite ready for it either.

“She’s killed our kind. I’ll do nothing to help her,” the Ebony Goddess said with disgust as she spat on the ground.

I gasped frantically for air as Ethan tightened his grip and my windpipe started to collapse. The Ebony Goddess’s face lit up with enjoyment as a tiny satisfied smile crept across her full lips.

I held onto Ethan’s forearms and kicked ferociously at him. It didn’t work. Nothing worked.

I’m going to die. This is it. This fucking sucks.

No! Think! Think for us!
that other voice growled through my mind. I stopped fighting and cleared my head. I let my mind wander and refused to focus on the air leaving my body, the pain of my windpipe collapsing, of everything but me and Ethan. I needed that deadly calm to focus myself. I had to move quickly and in the most efficient manner possible if I was going to live. What I was about to do had to be quick and clean. It wouldn’t be long before my mind clouded from lack of oxygen and I’d be beyond saving.

I slowly reached behind me and into my back pocket where Patrick had slipped the switchblade. It seemed like days ago, but it was the only weapon I had left.

I slipped it from the denim, then pushed the button. I screamed with all the air I had left to cover up the sound of the blade extending. Ethan didn’t even notice. He was too busy enjoying killing me to hear the faint click of the knife.

Patrick’s eyes widened as he watched me. I couldn’t tell if it was audible to everyone or just me as Patrick shouted, “Dahlia!”

Ethan watched me, his malicious grin of enjoyment making my stomach turn. I swung the switchblade in one swift, circular arm movement and whisked the knife over his extended arms, his hands still squeezing my neck, and brought the blade cleanly across his throat.

Ethan released me instantly. He clasped both hands over the gaping wound on his neck as he fell to his knees.

I examined the gleaming blade in my hand and noticed the burning flesh around the gash in Ethan’s throat.

The blade was silver. Patrick had given me a silver blade.

He’d intended me to kill, not to wound.

Ethan needed killing.

I fell to the ground with Ethan in a bloody heap. I was entirely focused on the kill to think too much about the pain in my body. I rolled toward Ethan. He twitched in panic on the floor as his life continued to flow from his neck in a liquid river of blood.

Patrick remained frozen where he stood but was gaining more maneuverability as Ethan’s power slipped away with each drop of blood that escaped his body. Ethan would have to feed in order to heal himself, and I wasn’t about to let that happen.

I crawled over to Ethan on numb knees. The Ebony Goddess, Dominique, approached him from the other side of the basement. I had to get there before her.

I straddled Ethan with a knee on each arm and the knife hovering just below his sternum. From that angle I could shove the knife up into his heart with nothing to hinder the silver blade from its destination. It was the second time tonight and it didn’t get any easier.

I stopped momentarily as our blood fused together in an indiscernible pool of crimson on the floor. It struck me that his blood looked no different than mine. Candace’s blood hadn’t been any different, either, and it hadn’t stopped me from shedding it. It wouldn’t stop me from shedding Ethan’s either. Blood was life, and I fully intended to take his, even if it cost me mine.

Ethan was weak, but if I didn’t kill him now, he would feed and heal. He’d come after me again and again until I was dead. I was sure that Dominique would be the first in line behind him with her smarmy pet in tow. I couldn’t let that happen. I heard a movement next to me.

“If you come near me, I’ll cut his heart out,” I said plainly to her. The vampires didn’t dare question my intentions, not when Candace’s lifeless eyes and blood-covered face stared back at them. In my peripheral vision, Patrick had gotten one arm free and was working on the other.

I was out of options. I looked up at Patrick with resignation plain on my face. He struggled against the magic that held him. The expression on his face pleaded with me to wait just a bit longer. I was out of time, though. I couldn’t wait any longer. I had a plan, but I had little hope of it working.

Here goes.

The vampire on my right had moved up beside me. I took a deep breath to focus. The next few seconds seemed to move in slow motion.

I shoved the knife into Ethan’s heart and simultaneously swept the legs out from underneath the vampire on my right. As he fell to the ground, I pulled my knife from Ethan’s chest and reached over to slam the blade into the vampire’s heart.

Dominique had lurched for me but was intercepted by Patrick. Ethan’s death had released him fully.

Patrick and Dominique collided next to me with such force that the stone walls shook and the wind from their impact shifted my blood-soaked hair as they soared by. Animal snarls, ripping flesh, hard thumps, whimpers, and growls filled the silence as they fought each other. The other vampires began to close in on them, completely ignoring me.
Thank God for small favors.

I stood on shaky legs and turned slowly in a circle, dragging my blood-soaked feet in a circle around me. My legs were jelly, and I was having a real problem standing on my own now that Ethan was dead. I didn’t have anything left.

“Stop,” I said in a firm tone to the crowd of vampires surrounding Patrick and Dominique. I closed my eyes and hoped that I could do it again. “Protect me,” I whispered to the blood around me. In a whoosh of magic and power, a smaller circle formed around me. I opened my eyes to the wide eyes and baffled faces of a dozen vampires. Not one of them wanted anything to do with me. Smart Vampires.

“Let them fight it out,” I said with a heavy breath. I was beginning to feel everything. The adrenaline had worn off quicker this time and I was left with my battered and broken self. I’d lost too much blood and my poor body was shutting down. I was a bit woozy from the total loss of blood.

Patrick gained the upper hand and struck Dominique with enough force that a few of her teeth flew from her mouth. They clinked on the cement floor as they skidded across the room. Dominique retaliated by bringing her fingernails sharply down Patrick’s chest like talons, leaving trails of blood across his alabaster skin. Patrick cried out. He balled his hand into a fist and punched Dominique in the face. She flew past me into the wall behind the stairs. Some of the stone from the wall flaked off and turned to dust upon impact.

Dominique took a minute or two to get up, but when she did, she released a shrill cry that would put a banshee to shame. She flew at Patrick.

Patrick moved slightly to the left and as Dominque passed him in midair, he snatched her, mid flight, by the hair and twisted her in painful halves. The snap of her vertebrae made me shiver as she fell to the ground with a broken back. She’d be paralyzed until she fed and healed the damage.

Patrick pinned her to the ground as she whimpered but never asked for quarter. Smarmy started to panic on the sidelines as he fidgeted in anxious anticipation.

“Will you take the blood oath?” Patrick asked calmly, staring down into eyes that looked daggers into him. His voice was ferocious and unforgiving. This was a side of him that I’d never seen. He was powerful and in control. Patrick embodied all of those qualities that I enlisted to survive. I was both impressed by him and frightened of him all at the same time.

“Not while that whore lives,” she spat out at him. Then she literally spat at him. He didn’t flinch or wipe away the vileness dripping slowly down his face.

“Then I cannot permit
you
to live,” he hissed with raised eyebrows.

She gave him a smug and cocky look. She didn’t think he’d do it.

Patrick glanced over at me, heat in his glare. I knew I looked like a mess. I was sweaty, tired, dirty, drenched in blood that had dried once, crusted, and was drying again. My arm was still bleeding. I’d tried to stop it by placing my hand firmly over the wound, but it wasn’t helping.

Patrick didn’t say anything. He smiled a funny contented smile that I knew was only for me before he turned back to Dominique. He growled down at her, showing his glistening sharp fangs. In one quick bite, he dug his teeth into her throat and pulled away, ripping out her trachea, esophagus, and most of her skin. Patrick spit out what was in his mouth, then reached over to the switchblade he’d given me. It was lying on the floor next to a pile of ashes that had once been Ethan. He grasped it firmly in his hand and separated Dominique’s head from the rest of her body. The hollow clink as the knife came into contact with the cement floor beneath was ominous.

Smarmy screamed. As Dominique turned to ash and disappeared, Smarmy decomposed before my eyes. He was still alive until his body finally crumpled in on itself in a bloody ball of organs, muscles, and bones sticking out from places they shouldn’t in what had once been Smarmy.

JESUS!

Patrick strode over to me. I brushed my blood-coated fingers against the circle and willed it to dissipate. He took me in his arms as his pride spilled over and into me. He kissed me hard, begging my lips to part and let him in. I met his passion with my own. When my lips parted, his tongue passed my lips, and I knew I was home.

He encircled me in his arms, taking care to not put pressure on my bicep or any other part of my body. Good man.

Patrick edged away from me slowly, hesitating as if he didn’t want to let me go. He looked down into my eyes, scanning my face and said boldly, “They fear you, and now they will fear me.” He smiled down at me, pleased and riding a power high, making me almost giddy with his delight. He then turned quickly on his heels to the rest of the vampires still in the basement.

“Gather the others. We will begin the blood oaths immediately,” Alex called. The first man came up to Patrick and knelt before him. Patrick opened up his own wrist with his razor sharp teeth and let the blood flow freely. The first vampire drank and swore allegiance to Patrick, then the next, and the next. As the parade of obedient vampires came to an end, the effects of shock and blood loss settled in. I needed medical attention, ASAP.

The cold hands of a stranger rested lightly on my arms. Once I was able to focus on her, I realized that she was pretty and petite. Alex with her bright yellow Big Bird hair gazed into my face with appreciation. She helped me to my feet and escorted me up the stairs. The aroma of fresh air seeped through rooms of the house, filling my nose as we crested the stairs of the basement. That damned Grand Piano had never looked so good.

“Why are you helping me?” I asked, confused. My mind clogged from the pain and I was pretty sure that I’d just slurred that sentence. I was on the verge of passing out.

“I will do what is in Patrick’s best interests,” she said flatly. “And right now, that’s you.” She pushed open the double French doors. The brisk night air hit me like I’d just stepped into a meat freezer. The cold air helped clear my head a little.

“Thank you,” I said softly.

“I’ll call an ambulance,” she offered, but I stopped her.

“No,” I said abruptly. “My cell phone’ssss in my boot,” I slurred. “Call Danny. He’sss an EMT.” She reached into my boot and retrieved the cell phone. The steady stream of soft beeps were the only sound in the silent night. She dialed. The phone rang loudly as she held it to her ear. I slunk down along the brick wall as my legs finally gave out. The cold wood of the deck hit my ass harder than I’d intended. Sleep. I wanted to go to sleep. I didn’t care if I ever woke up.

“No Daniel, this is not Dahlia. It’s Alex. She has asked me to call you. She’s been injured and needs some assistance. She doesn’t want to go to the hospital.” She had an extremely flat tone as she spoke, very calm, clear, and concise. She looked down at me with some compassion in her cold expression. “I think you should hurry.” She snapped the phone closed and knelt down in front of me. She hadn’t said where we were. “Are you all right?” the vampire asked.

I nodded as best as I could and took a few deep breaths. I thought deep breathing would help me avoid the nausea percolating in my belly. I nodded again to convince myself and closed my eyes. I don’t remember Danny coming to get me.

Epilogue

December

“I know that this flappy paddle gearbox is supposed to be a great thing and all,” I snapped at Jade as she clung to the passenger seat for dear life. “But I’ve skipped from fourth to sixth gear every fucking time. This is driving me crazy. I can’t believe your father paid that much money for this car,” I said, pushing the accelerator to the floor as the car soared over 125 miles per hour on I-270. Amazingly, I hadn’t seen a single police or state highway patrol car the entire time. Maybe I was just going so fast that they couldn’t see me.

Riiiight.

I liked to think that a car this expensive had an invisibility button or something. That would be nice.

We were also lucky that it was mid December and hadn’t snowed yet, otherwise we would’ve been in real trouble. I was pretty sure the Maserati GranTurismo S wasn’t good on slick surfaces.

“Dahlia,” Jade cautioned. Her voice quaked in fear. She was scared. Hell, so was I. It wasn’t every day that I hit speeds of more than 100 miles per hour but I couldn’t let this guy get away. “Maybe we should slow down. I think this car will crumble in an impact when we’re going this fast.”