Shiver (16 page)

“I am telling you the truth,” said the bot.

Disconnecting her from the cord surely wouldn’t hurt her. He tugged gently on the cable and Lian’s body started to vibrate, as if she was having a seizure. “What’s the matter with her?”

“You have interfered. If you continue, you will kill her.”

He pushed the cable in tight and the seizure stopped. Knox dropped his hand, defeated.

“Save yourself, and let her be.”

His hands clenched into fists. “I can’t leave her to die.” The house was ten minutes from blowing up. He refused to abandon her.

“She has already gone to a better place.”

“No, Lian’s still
alive
.” Her chest rose and fell. The sound of her steady heartbeat, and the
swoosh
of her blood pumping through her body, confirmed she was. “You don’t understand what it means to be alive.”

The robot stared at him with its expressionless face. “I understand more than you realize. Her physical shell may perish but not her mind and spirit.”

“I don’t like the sounds of that.”

“Detonation in five minutes,” the automated voice boomed.

The robot turned and pointed at the back of its neck, where a similar cable to Lian’s poked out. “I will be going to the same place she is. I promise to take care of her.”

“No!” Knox growled. He turned and smashed one fist, and then the other, against the glass wall, hard enough for it to shatter. Tiny bits of glass embedded into his knuckles, but he didn’t care. He couldn’t feel anything over the sensation tightening his chest. He hadn’t felt this useless since his sister was stripped away from his life and he chased after her, only to become a slave himself.

He was about to fail another person who needed his help.

No, this can’t happen.

“You must leave, now!”

His survival instinct should have kicked in, but Knox just couldn’t leave. All he could do was look at Lian while pain swelled inside his chest. An agony so strong he couldn’t shake it, no matter how hard he tried to convince himself none of this was his fault. He’d tried his best to save her after she offered him a taste of blood. Now, seeing her like this, he couldn’t walk away. No matter what the robot claimed, being hooked up to a machine was no way to live.

“I. Won’t. Leave. Her.” His teeth were gritted so hard, the words barely came out.

“Then you leave me no choice.”

The bullet burned through his shoulder and tore out of his back, forcing him to lean on his side. “What the fuck?”

“Go, before I shoot you in the head.”

“I told you, I won’t leave her.” He stood his ground. “Besides, what’s getting shot going to do to a vampire about to be blown to smithereens?” A manic chuckle escaped him.

“Detonation in three minutes,” the drone continued.

“She wants you to be safe,” the robot said, still pointing the barrel of the gun that was its index finger.

Knox shook his head. “How would you know what she wants?”

“Li and I have been connected for a long time.” The robot’s head inclined to the left. “If you do not go, I will end your life before the explosion. You will not survive the way she will.” To get the point across, the robot shot him in the other shoulder. “I always hit my target.”

Knox shrugged it off. The wound on the other shoulder was already closing. “Didn’t you hear me, mate?” This was ridiculous. “I’m a vampire inside a house that’s going to blow. You’re no threat to me.”

“I must ensure no one moves her until the upload is complete. She has to stay here. You do not.”

He glared at the golden robot for a moment, then turned his attention back to Lian. Her hair was moist with sweat and some strands stuck to her face, but she was still beauty incarnate.

Knox’s chest constricted as he caressed her cheek. He was about to lose her before they’d had a chance to get to know each other. “You better take care of her,” he whispered.

“You do not need to worry.”

Having to do this made his heart ache, but there was no other choice. Knox leaned closer and pressed a soft kiss on her lips. He stepped back, never taking his eyes off her until he reached the narrow doorway. A hole burned in his heart with every step he took.

Knox turned on his heel and was about to run the way he’d come when he remembered Vera. He bent down and picked her up. If he couldn’t save Lian, at least he could save her friend.

“Detonation in one minute,” the automated voice announced.

It didn’t take long to descend the stairs and reach the now-empty foyer. A cold breeze swept into the house from the majestic open doors ahead. He knew the sun waited for him but unless he wanted to be blown into a thousand pieces by the pending explosion, he didn’t have much choice.

As soon as his feet hit the snow just outside the door, he found his legs pumping faster than ever before. When the house exploded, his body was sent airborne, and he lost his grip on Vera. His arms and legs swam out in front of him as if he was trying to grab on to something, but what he was really reaching for was
her
.

Knox wanted to wrap his arms around Lian.

He didn’t want it to end like this.

He’s here.

“Yes, he is,” the female voice said. “But he is going to ruin everything.”

A sharp pain flowed through Lian, making her body waver for a moment before settling back into focus. “What’s going on?” She stared at her hands and they looked duller, all the vibrant colors seemed to be fading.

“He is disconnecting the wires! I need to take care of this.”

“Wait, what are you going to do?” Even as the words slid out from her mouth, Lian knew she was now alone inside this otherwise colorful place. The siren still blared inside the virtual world, but it had become a secondary sound. “Don’t hurt him.”

The last thing she’d expected after releasing Knox was that he would track her down and try to save her. For just a moment, she savored the thought and a flush of warmth flowed through her. She felt content and a little invincible. To realize he was willing to risk his own life for hers made Knox a man worth any sacrifice.

She could only hope the voice was able to convince him to go.

“Lian, wake up.”

What was going on now? That couldn’t be Knox—he didn’t sound like a woman with a tinny voice. So who was it?

She looked around, wide-eyed and trying to swim toward the surface, where twin green lights had suddenly appeared. She couldn’t ignore whatever was up there, so she let the stream of consciousness go, and rose above and beyond all the weakening colors of the rainbow, until she broke through.

“Lian, I will take care of you.”

As soon as her eyes snapped open, she met the expressionless eyes of the golden bot. It was stroking her hair away from her face but all she could feel was the rough weight of being back in her body, inside the control room.

The twin lights that had guided her out were the bot’s eyes.

“What’s going on? Where’s Knox?”

“Gone.”

Tears prickled behind her eyes and tumbled over her cheeks.

“Hush.” The droid tightened its metallic fingers around hers and leaned over as if to shield her body.

The restraints no longer held her down, and only the cable connected to her skull was left tangled in her hair. “What are you doing?”

“Li, listen to me. The house is about to explode, but you can survive.”

“What? How?”

“Now that the Network has been uploaded, you will have to do as I say.”

“What about Knox, Hogan and Vera? I have to make sure they get out,” she said.

“They are on their way out.”

She stared at the bot’s square head, now realizing this had been her guide inside the Network. A voice she’d heard for many years and had been hazy in the other world was now a lot clearer. “Tell me what I have to do.” If her friends were safe, she could do this.

“The nano-mites and your connection to the virtual world have already expanded your brain capacity. Visualize the grounds around the house.”

As confusing as it sounded, she tried to think of the snow just outside the front door.

“Are you visualizing it?”

She nodded, afraid to let go of the picture.

“When I tell you to, imagine you are standing there and not here.”

“How’s that going to help me survive? I’m not in the virtual world anymore.”

The bot stared at her. “No, but the nano-mites have been very busy since being awakened. You can do this. Are you ready?”

No. Yes.
Her head was jumbled by everything, but she desperately wanted to survive. It was worth a shot. She’d already done some incredible things—why not teleporting as well?

“Li, do it now. Go outside!”

The control room was there one second, solid and real. Then it shattered into thousands of tiny pieces as the floor opened up beneath them. The inertia made Lian’s stomach jump and her mind fill with imagery of the world outside of the estate. She imagined herself as one of those careless wolves from the mountains and felt her body disintegrate around her.

For a split moment in time, Lian was positive she no longer existed and would fade to nothing, along with the house.

At least she’d finally figured out who the familiar female voice belonged to.

Thanks, Mya.

Chapter Eight

Knox opened his eyes, then forced them shut. His senses were swamped with a cacophony of heartbeats. Each pounded a different rhythm and some seemed farther away than others, but they all filled him with hunger.

Maybe I’m in vampire hell, tormented forever with beating hearts and not a single drop of blood.

When he tried to move, he realized he still had limbs. But damn,
everything
hurt.

He snapped his eyes open.

It took several attempts but when he finally sat up, he noticed he’d landed under a rocky overhang, which provided safe cover from the sunlight. Scattered clouds moved across the sky. The thick plume of smoke rising from the rubble of what used to be a mansion blotted out the sun.

Knox surveyed his surroundings. Most of the site was a mess of broken stone, steel, glass, embers and ash, with only a handful of fires still burning. He couldn’t believe he’d left Lian inside.

A new bout of pain shot through him when someone grabbed one of his injured shoulders. The bullet wounds had healed, but there was still some damage.

He jumped to his feet, snarling, ready to fight.

“Whoa, I just wanted to make sure you’re all right.” Hogan raised both palms in front of him and Knox noticed he’d reattached the prosthetic.

Hogan’s heart was just another in a crowd of thudding drumbeats, no wonder he hadn’t heard his approach. And Vera’s—who was propped up against the rocky outcrop—hardly pulsed. She was pale as death, and he could see the web of veins beneath her skin. Blood poured from the gash on her head and stained the shirt pressed against her gut.

Seeing Vera’s blood all over the snow stirred his hunger, but he couldn’t lose control.
I won’t let it defeat me.
He blocked the drumbeats inside his head by concentrating on the man in front of him. Knox said, “
You
pulled us to safety?”

“Yes, you crazy bastard!” Hogan shook his head. “Why’d it take you so long to get outside? I waited by the door as long as I could.”

Knox opened his mouth to answer but didn’t know what to say.
 

Hogan glanced at Vera and gritted his teeth before looking away. “How the hell do you stand it, man? Vera’s blood is driving me crazy and that drumming… Tending to her wounds was a bitch!”

“You’ll get used to it,” he lied. “Breathe.”

The guard inhaled, then exhaled before speaking. “Knox, what happened in there? Did you find her?”

Knox felt like someone had kicked him while he was down. It wasn’t the out of time heartbeats or the intoxicating scent of blood in the air affecting him. Hogan’s question made him realize he’d lost Lian. He hadn’t been able to save her. He’d left her with the nonsense-speaking robot.

He had to get the hell off this planet and live a life of solitude, away from everyone. Losing the people he cared about hurt too much.

Cared?
The thought of it made him pause. No. That wasn’t possible. How could he care so deeply for someone he barely knew? After being forced to fight in a pit where hate and pain were the only real currency, he’d found comfort in Lian’s soft ways, kindness and brazen attitude. She’d wanted to help him when no one else had. She’d willingly given him her precious blood. After finding out what he was, she even freed him from his chains.

Knox stared at Vera, her life slipping away. “Have you tried to save her?”

“The shirt to apply pressure is the only thing I could think of. Actually the only thing she’s accepted. I can’t find any medic bots.”

“No, I mean
really
tried to save her?”

Hogan shook his head. “I have no idea what that means.”