Scarlet Heat (Born to Darkness) (35 page)

“I’m fine, really,” I said, heading for the door.

“Okay.” She sighed. “I hope next time I can do
some happier magic for you. Tell you what, your next love spell is on the
house. Okay?”

“Sure. Thanks.” I didn’t have the heart to tell
her that I was never going to take her up on her generous offer. Victor had been
the only one for me and now he was gone.

“Goodbye,” I said and walked out of her
house…straight into a trap.

Chapter Twenty-four—Victor

The burning pain hit me about halfway to Tampa. I
was driving along a back road in my truck, heading for Corbin’s club where I
figured Taylor would be staying, when my hands and feet started to tingle. The
tingle turned into warmth, which turned into a fire, which spread up my arms
and legs and into my stomach and crotch.

“Shit!” I swerved to the right, nearly hitting a
tree and then somehow managed to get control of the truck. Luckily the small
road I was on was practically deserted.

“What the
hell
?”
I muttered, pulling to the soft sandy shoulder. The pain was getting more and
more intense and somehow I knew it had to do with Taylor.

Where are you, baby, and what’s happening to you? Are you okay?

I burned for her—ached to have my arms around
her. The flames grew more intense until I couldn’t sit still. I was writhing
around on the car seat like a crazy man—if anyone had seen me they probably
would have assumed I was having some kind of a fucking seizure.

Just when I thought I couldn’t stand it anymore,
the pain stopped abruptly.

I sat up in the seat—I’d been practically down on
the floorboard—and took stock of myself. Despite the weird, burning pain I’d
experienced, there were no marks on me anywhere. I looked at my arms and legs
and even lifted my shirt and unbuttoned my jeans—nothing, not a scratch or a
burn anywhere.

Was I crazy? Had I imagined it all? Or was Taylor
in trouble?

I grabbed my cell phone and tried to call her but
she wasn’t picking up. Frowning, I started the truck and pulled back onto the
road. I didn’t know what was happening but I had a strong feeling something was
seriously wrong.

Never should have sent you away, baby,
I thought as I drove down the dark road.
I was such a coward—should have been man enough to face what I did and
beg your forgiveness.

When I saw her again, I fully intended to drop to
my knees and do exactly that. I’d try to explain why I had done what I did. And
pray to God she’d listen.

I drove along, the yellow lines in the road
flashing past under my truck, berating myself. I should have begged her
forgiveness in the first place. But I was too disgusted with myself, too filled
with shame and self loathing at the way I had broken her trust. Too—

A sudden, sharp, stabbing pain cut off my
thoughts. It felt like someone had plunged a fucking machete into my chest. I
lost control of the truck, swerving wildly across the midline and narrowly
missing a lone semi that was rushing past. I heard the blast of its horn and
then my truck dipped sharply down and the dark shape of a huge old tree was
looming up in my windshield.

I tried to twist the wheel but the pain in my
heart was so strong I felt paralyzed—literally unable to move. All I could do
was watch as the truck plowed straight into it.

There was a grinding, crashing sound of metal
tearing and glass shattering and then I was flying—straight through the
windshield.

My head connected with something hard and sharp
and then everything went black.

* * * * *

Taylor

“Take her—use the silver cuffs and the gag. I
don’t want that little witch to hear anything. And you, Carl—get her keys.
Drive her car somewhere and dump it.”

The sultry voice was horribly familiar. I looked
up to see Celeste—my old mistress and the one who had turned me into a vampire
in the first place—smirking at me.

Strong hands grabbed me, and though I tried to
fight, I felt too weak. It was like I was bleeding inwardly, like the wound I
had sustained when my bond with Victor was cut was draining me until I could
barely move. Even when they slapped silver cuffs on my wrists and a silver gag
across my mouth I still couldn’t summon the strength to fight. The silver
burned my skin but it still didn’t hurt nearly as much as the pain of losing
Victor.

What’s the use?
I thought dully as they dragged
me into Celeste’s waiting car—a sleek black Hummer with vanity plates that said
VAMP-1.
Nothing matters anymore. He’s
gone.

Celeste seemed to notice my lack of struggle. She
settled beside me on the seat and frowned.

“What’s the matter, Taylor darling? Having a bad
night?”

Of course I couldn’t speak around the gag so I
just shook my head and looked away. From the corner of my eye, I could see Celeste
frowning. She was dressed in her usual dramatic style—black and white with
blood red accents, and her pixie-cut blonde hair was perfectly coifed as
always. Celeste was petite and lovely—like a fragile, beautifully crafted doll.
It was only when you lived with her for awhile, as I had been forced to do—that
you realized what a monster she truly was under those big innocent eyes and
delicate features.

“What’s wrong with her?” Celeste asked one of the
men who had grabbed and cuffed me—the other was driving the car. “Why is she so
lifeless?”

He shrugged. “Don’t know. She’s your spawn, isn’t
she?”

“That’s
not
a very polite word to use,” Celeste snarled. “But yes, it was I who first
turned her to darkness.”

“Then you figure it out. Vamp psychology isn’t my
area of expertise.” He was a big man who seemed human but there was an aura of
power about him—a dark energy that seemed to fill the cab of the Hummer. I
couldn’t get a good look at his features in the dim car but could tell he
wasn’t afraid of Celeste, which was unusual and probably unhealthy unless he
had the ability to back up his flippant words.

“Make the test,” she snapped, scowling at him.
“Hurry—I must know if it worked!”

“All right.” He shrugged and ripped the silver
gag off my mouth. Then he shoved what tasted like a cold Chicken McNugget into
my mouth.

“What the—?” I choked, tried to spit it out but
his powerful hands clamped shut around my face. He was definitely more than
human because I couldn’t break his grip.

“Chew, girlie,” he rumbled. “Eat it up. Sorry
about the quality but it’s not like the Queen of the Damned over here has any
gourmet nibbles lying around. We had to go through the drive-thru to get that
little
amuse bouche.”

“I’m getting really tired of your sarcasm, Mr.
Shadowlock,” Celeste said, giving him a nasty look. “I did
not
hire you for your sense of humor.”

“No, you hired me because I’m the most powerful
warlock in the continental US—you hired me for my Goddamn magic,” he drawled.
“The humor is just a bonus. So why don’t you sit back and enjoy it the same way
this little lady is enjoying her first taste of over-processed chicken in six
long years?”

Celeste looked like she was going to say
something else but at that moment I swallowed.

“Look!” Her eyes glowed with excitement in the dim
car. “She ate it! She actually
ate it!
Quick,”
she commanded the warlock. “Give her another!”

“Let’s just wait a minute and make sure the first
one stays down,” he said dryly. “Cleaning up vampire puke isn’t in my job
description.”

“You’re
useless
,”
she snapped at him. “Here—give me that!” Reaching across me, she snatched a
small red cardboard carton with brightly colored cartoons on its side—a Happy Meal.
I could almost see her ordering it too—
No,
I do
not
care if the toy included is for a boy or a girl, just give me
the damn food!
I would have laughed if the situation wasn’t so horrible.

“Celes—” I started to say but the moment my mouth
was open, she crammed three more McNuggets down my throat—or tried to, anyway.
She neglected to hold my mouth shut like the warlock had. I spit the nuggets in
her face and bit her finger—
hard
.

“Ow! You little
bitch!”
Celeste slapped me as hard as she could—which was plenty
hard—she was a three-star vampire with a lot of power. My head rocked back and
I saw stars and tasted blood—both hers and mine.

“Hey, now…” The warlock sounded pissed. “You
didn’t say anything about beating the hell out of the poor girl. Killing her,
yes—but not beating her.”

“She
bit
me!”
Celeste sounded outraged.

“And if I know vamps—which I unfortunately do—you
probably did a hell of a lot worse to her back when she was in your care,” he
rumbled. “So let’s take it easy with the domestic violence, all right?”

“She is mine—I will beat her if I please.”
Celeste sounded sulky—she wasn’t used to being reprimanded.

“I’m not yours anymore,” I said, spitting blood
on the floor of her Hummer. “I haven’t been since Corbin rescued me.”

“That is what
you
think.” Celeste’s eyes flashed dangerously. “But no one can ever truly
sever the tie between a vampire and his or her maker. There is still a thread
of connection between us, my dear little Taylor. And that is
more
than enough to make the prophecy
work.”

“Prophecy? What prophecy?” I asked.

Celeste only shoved the Happy Meal in my face.

“Eat,” she commanded, shaking the cardboard container
so that it rustled and sent the greasy stink of stale fast food wafting into my
face. I nearly gagged.

“Sorry.” Using both cuffed hands, I shoved it
back at her. “I’ve had enough junk food for one night.”

“Let me rephrase that, Taylor.” Celeste’s eyes
narrowed and she leaned toward me. “Eat the fucking Happy Meal or I will cut
off your fingers, joint by joint, and feed them to you instead. Either way,
it’s meat.”

My stomach rolled because I knew she’d do it.
Suddenly, I felt in danger of losing everything I had eaten that night—the
Checker’s food, Gwendolyn’s grandmother’s homemade pickles—everything,
including the dry, tasteless Chicken McNugget the warlock had crammed down my
throat.

“I’ll save you the trouble,” I said, trying to keep
my voice steady. “And tell you that I
can
eat again. I don’t know why or what it has to do with any prophecy but I’ve
already had a cheeseburger, a shake, fries, and about half a jar of dill
pickles tonight. If you make me eat any more I really
will
puke.”

“I’d listen to the girl,” Shadowlock rumbled. “Fast
food vomit is nasty stuff. It’d be a shame to have to trash your nice ride
because you couldn’t get the smell out.”

“I wasn’t going to puke on the car,” I said. “If
I hurl it’s going to be straight at Celeste.” I glared at my old mistress. No
matter how much she threatened me, I wasn’t going to act like a victim. That
was the old Taylor—I refused to be that girl anymore. “I’d settle for getting
it all over your nice dress,” I told her. “But I’d prefer to get it in your
hair,
Mistress.”

The warlock laughed. “Girl’s got spunk. You gotta
admire that.”

“No, I most certainly do not.” Celeste sat back
in the car and frowned at me, clearly perplexed. “You seem to have a gained
courage since last I saw you, Taylor. You’re no longer the sniveling little
coward you were when I first turned you.”

I thought of Victor. Of his patience and
kindness—the way he had gone out of his way to help me get over my fear and
trauma.

“That’s because I spent time with someone who really
cared about me,” I said. “And…and lost him. There’s nothing you can do to me
that you haven’t already done. Nothing that could be worse than what just
happened.”

“And what exactly happened?” Celeste demanded,
leaning toward me again.

“I think she’s talking about the blood-bond.” The
warlock’s deep voice was surprisingly quiet. “It’s already broken, isn’t it,
darlin?” he asked, looking at me. “That’s what you were doing at that little
witch’s house.”

I looked down at my cuffed hands. Wisps of acrid
smoke were rising from my wrists where the silver cuffs burned me but they
didn’t hurt nearly as badly as my heart.

“Yes,” I whispered. What was the point in denying
it?

“Well, then…” Shadowlock sat back and looked at
Celeste. “It looks like you won’t be needing my services any further, Ma’am. So
if you could just let me off at the airport—”

“Not so fast,” Celeste snapped. “I still need your
help for the ceremony tomorrow night.”

“That wasn’t our deal. You’ve got the girl and I
showed you what to do.” His voice was stony. “You don’t need me.”

“Yes, I do,” she insisted. “I’ll need a circle of
protection in case Taylor’s little friends come calling. It means more money
for you—I don’t understand why you’re balking.”