Sigma (2 page)

“Oh Sam, women aren’t prey. One-night-stands are not the way to find love. That’s like taste testing at the supermarket. You need to slow down and enjoy the meal.”

His stomach grumbled at the mention of food. There would be a ton at home. “If I recall right, you and Daedalus didn’t wait. Right into the cooking pot.”

She gazed out her window. “And look where I am.”

Sam’s gut clenched. “He would have been here. I’m sure of it.” He swallowed around a lump in his throat. The vampire had better have a good reason for hurting her. She’d suffered enough and shouldn’t be made to feel like a burden. “Something really big must have come up, end of the world proportions, for him to have missed tonight.”

“Something bad…”

He took the on-ramp for the interstate, reaching for her hand, but a car shot past him and cut him off. He swerved into the next lane to avoid a collision, barely missing the vehicle. “Asshole!”

Sugar clung to the chicken bar above her head, but didn’t utter a word.

With both hands on the wheel, he sped and maneuvered next to the car.

A woman with short brown curls spoke into a cellphone, oblivious to them, as she clutched her steering wheel with a white knuckled grip. She kept glancing at her review mirror, her eyes wide and frantic.

Sam’s boiling blood cooled to a simmer. He didn’t need to smell her to sense her fear. He checked his own mirror.

A black sedan tailed her. The back window on the driver’s side lowered and a man leaned out.

“What is he doing?” He glanced over his shoulder to make sure he’d seen right. The guy held a rifle. “Duck!” He shoved Sugar down, bending her in half, and then slammed on his brakes to let the gunman pass.

Sugar struggled under his hand. “Get off me.”

The gunshot split the night air. The rear window of the car driven by the woman shattered into shards, scattering on the highway.

Using her good arm, Sugar swatted Sam’s grip on her neck and pulled herself upright. “Are they shooting at her?”

“Yeah.” He fumbled his cell out of his jean pocket. “Can you call nine-one-one?”

“Why are you slowing down?” She pointed at the car chase ahead of them on the almost empty interstate. “You’re Sigma, you’re supposed to protect. Go help her.”

“No.” Sam tossed the cell on her lap. “I’m your Sigma.”

“Then you’re fired.” She slapped her hand against the dash. “Go.” Her voice cut like sharp glass. “Can you really turn your back on someone in need?” She pointed to her chest. “I can’t. Move this rust bucket.”

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” He shoved the gas pedal to the floor. “Daedalus is going to tan my hide and use me as a throw rug.”

“Never mind him.” She waved her hand in the air, as if dismissing the thought of her lover.

* * * *

Clementine’s car wouldn’t go any faster. She’d bought the piece-of-shit from a second-hand dealer for cash so she wouldn’t leave a paper trail for Pal Robi to follow. She glanced at her review mirror again.

Unlike the ancient vampires’ unbeating hearts, her young undead pulse galloped. How had they found her? “I can’t shake ’em.” Her cellphone lay on the passenger seat now with her master on speaker.

“Take the next exit. I’m not far and on an intercept course. Evade them at all cost until we meet. I’ll take care of them then.”

The back window shattered with a loud shot. “Jesus!” She swerved the car toward the shoulder, keeping her head low, and regained control before hitting the cement wall. “I’m not trained for this.” Being a vampire didn’t mean being immortal as most humans thought. The older the vampire, the better they healed, but at her mere one hundred and twelve years, a big hole in her head could kill her. Or worse, leave her in a zombie-like state.

“Drive, Clementine,” her master yelled over the phone before it slid off the seat.

She was doing her best. They didn’t teach car chase driving to accountants at Pal Robi. She left that yahoo crap to the ones who wanted risks.

The screech of tires grabbed her attention. She glanced back. Another car chased her.
Great. Let’s have a parade
.

It squeezed between her and the gunman’s car. What the hell? She squinted at the mirror. Had she seen that hunk of junk before? It was the same one she’d almost collided with upon merging on the interstate.

“Master? There are two cars now.”

“I need that thumb drive.” He sounded furious.

Cold sweat beaded over her skin. It slicked her palms where she gripped the steering wheel. “I know. I know.”

She’d been so careful following her master’s directions. She had still let him down. No one was supposed to know she’d stolen the data. She jerked in her seat as one of the cars bumped hers.

Struggling to maintain control, she passed a sign announcing the next exit in one mile. She chewed her bottom lip, almost puncturing it with a fang. “I’m at the exit. What now?”

“There’s a wooded park to the north. Ditch the car and run. Take the phone. I’ll be there within minutes.”

“North? Which way is north?” She crunched numbers for a living. She didn’t have an internal compass.

“Make a right at the lights. And don’t wait for it to turn green. Blow through it.”

She could add racing a car through Chicago, being shot at, and corporate espionage to her resume after this week.

She’d offered her master loyalty in exchange for safety all those decades ago.

This was not safe.

Chapter 2

The vehicle carrying the gunman went around Sam’s car and passed them.

Sam glanced from them, back to Sugar. “I don’t know what you’re expecting me to do. I’m not exactly driving a racing car.” He followed the vehicles down the off-ramp. “Have you dialed nine-one-one yet?” His heart skipped a beat as he glimpsed the excitement on Sugar’s face.

She clutched the seat belt with her good hand. “No, I’m too busy hanging on.”

He shook his head. “Forget this. I’m not risking you.” He eased off the gas. “Enough excitement for one night.”

The first car, driven by the woman, screeched to a stop at the park. Leaving her vehicle on the grass, she jumped out and ran for the shadows of the trees.

Sam punched the dash. “What is she doing?”

Her pursuers followed suit, leaping out their doors. The gunman knelt, taking aim with his rifle.

“Sam!” Sugar cried out and pointed.

He held his breath and braced his arms against the steering wheel. Pressing the gas pedal to the floor, he aimed for the gunman. His vintage car jumped the curb and roared over the grass.

Light flashed from the gun’s barrel as the man pulled the trigger. The shot rang through the night air.

Sam flinched, the sharp noise assaulting his sensitive hearing. However, he couldn’t tear his gaze from the fleeing woman.

With arms flung out in front and a red bloom expanding on her pink t-shirt, she collapsed onto the grass, face down, not moving.

Heart racing, Sam blinked his unbelieving eyes. “Fuck!” He spun the wheel, clipping the murderer with the fender of his car. His beast roused for the first time in months and it peered through his eyes. For one glorious moment they were one without the shift.

“Get down on the floorboards, Sug.” The last thing either of them needed was for her to be shot.

She undid her belt and wiggled off her seat, melting to the floor.

Once she was as safe as could be, he charged out the car door and released his beast. It tore through his flesh with aching familiarity. Claws punctured from the tips of his fingers as fur sprouted from his flesh. He embraced the pain. The shift happened fast, shredding his clothes off in an explosion of blood and fabric.

The engine of his car let out a death rattle, leaving a blanket of silence over the park. He stepped in front of the headlights, allowing his shadow to paint over the men.

Someone hissed.

Sam straightened and cocked his head to the side. Okay, not men.

Vampires.

Shit. Time to get his ass kicked. As a four-hundred-pound, bipedal beast of blood-thirsty-fury, he jumped and landed on the attackers, raking his claws across the closest vamp’s neck, almost decapitating him. Using the momentum, he reached forward and stabbed the second in the heart, twisting his wrist to shred the organ.

He crouched, claws extended and ready.

Crumpled on the ground, neither assailant attempted to rise.

Sniffing, Sam drew closer. He’d won? They weren’t exactly his first vampires. His trainer and Sugar’s fiance, Daedalus, was a Nosferatu warrior. In comparison, these bloodsuckers were sissies.

He sprinted toward the injured female. What should he do? The police wouldn’t be happy about vampires and shifters being involved in a human shooting. If this got out to the press, there would be riots.

She struggled to sit.

He slowed, his steps faltering. That shot should have killed her. He shifted back to human form so he could speak. “Don’t move.” Kneeling next to her, he placed an arm around her shoulders. Blood coated his hand.

“Help me up. They can’t get me.” Her words came out halted, between gasps.

“Stay still. I’ll call for help.”

She grabbed his arm with surprising strength. “No.”

He slipped his hands around her slight build and stroked the hair from her face. “You’ve been shot. You need a hospital, you’re going into shock.”

She shook her head. “Bullets hurt, but they missed my heart.” Delicate fangs flashed between her rosebud lips as she spoke. “My master is on the way.”

He blinked. He’d landed in the center of a vampire squabble. Of all the stupid things he could have done, this topped the list. Eric, his alpha, would help Daedalus skin him. Scooping the female in his arms, he carried her back to his car while shaking his head. “There are other ways to settle differences besides guns. What if a human had been caught in the cross fire?”

The gunman rolled onto his knees.

Without breaking stride, Sam kicked him in the head with a satisfying crunch. Pain raced through his bare foot and he grimaced, but the hurt was worth it. He twisted at the sound of screeching tires. “I hope this is your master. I don’t think I can shift again so soon.”

A sports car rounded the corner, speeding in their direction.

He dashed toward his vehicle, intent on shoving her into the back seat until he knew for sure who drove toward them.

“That should be him.” She gave the car a feeble wave. “I think.”

Twisting toward the slowing black Audi, he skidded to a stop. A familiar baldheaded Nosferatu launched from the driver’s side. Sam’s heart plummeted. “Oh, shit.”

Daedalus stopped mid-stride and their stares met. “What the fuck are you doing here? You’re supposed to be picking up Sugar.” His gaze traveled to Sam’s car. “You didn’t.”

“Wait, I can explain. She–” He held up the vampire in his arms. “Was in trouble…”

Before Sam could finish, the Nosferatu was in his car. “Babe?” Daedalus glared at Sam from the passenger side. Amazing the windshield didn’t melt. “What are you doing here and not safe at home?” Daedalus gathered Sugar in his arms.

“There was shooting–” Sam tried to explain, but what was the use? The Nosferatu had already decided not to listen.

Daedalus’s stare traveled to the female vampire, then to the unconscious ones on the ground.

“Sugar told me–” Sam was a loser. Nothing he said could defend his actions. As Sigma, he sucked with extra lemon sauce.

“Don’t be angry at Sam. I forced him to follow.” Sugar caressed Daedalus’s cheek. “Where were you?”

“Trying to help her.” He gestured to the half-conscious vampire in Sam’s arms. “And keeping you safe.” The Nosferatu deflated before Sam’s eyes. “Fuck, I can’t believe you brought her into a gun fight.”

“Daedalus.” Sugar swatted his shoulder and squirmed in his arms. “Put me down.”

He ignored her and tried to give her a kiss.

She turned her face and gave him a cheek.

“We’ll speak about this at home.” He buckled her in the car and closed the door before approaching them. Stopping by the gunman’s body, he stared intently at the face. “I don’t remember him, Clementine.”

“They hired him after you left,” the female vampire responded. “They are a lot of new vampires at Pal Robi in the last few months, since most of the older ones have left.”

“Do you still possess the thumb drive?”

“Yes, Master.” She squirmed in Sam’s arms and removed it from her back pants pocket, handing it to Daedalus.

Master?

Without hesitation, the Nosferatu unsheathed a long knife, almost machete sized, from beneath his leather trench coat and decapitated both vampire attackers.

Sam sucked in a breath. “That’s murder.”

The look Daedalus gave him said he was lucky to keep his own head attached to his shoulders. “Take Clementine back to the brownstone. Don’t get involved in any more trouble.” He grabbed Sam’s shoulder, and the bones creaked under the pressure. “And don’t mess this up.”

Stabbed in the stomach by his words, Sam nodded in silence. He’d done it again. He’d let Sugar down.

She’d seemed so full of life, almost her old self, as she demanded he help the vampire female. It was the right thing to do, wasn’t it? He didn’t know anymore. Right and wrong had blurred ever since the Omegas, their old small pack, had absorbed Chicago’s major shifter pack, combining to become the Vasi. Eric, one of his best friends, had defeated the old corrupt alpha by beating the crap out of him, which left him in charge of Chicago. Sam wouldn’t have left him in such a bind alone. Hell, none of them had. They had all moved into Sugar’s brownstone and had helped the huge pack come together. Sugar’s twin, Spice, even had shacked up with Eric and had become their alpha female.

They’d been so young and naïve when they’d hired Daedalus to train them to fight. Sam hadn’t expected Eric to actually win the challenge. For fuck sakes, he’d had been fine with just living through the whole nightmare. They’d fought off take-overs, kidnappers, and recruited a slayer. Not bad for a bunch of omega dweebs.

“Sam?” A small voice broke into his thoughts.

He shook his head, ignoring his growing shame, and smiled at the petite vampire in his arms. Her short, spring-formed curls cut close to her head stirred in the breeze. She appeared delicate and fragile in his arms. With rosebud lips, sparkling brown eyes, and a flush blooming over her pale cheeks, she almost seemed human. “You call him master?” He nodded toward the departing Audi. “What do I have to do to get you to call me that?”