Sins of the Undead Patriot (23 page)

“Stop.” Teeth gritted, he tried to hold her in place.

Pushing him back out then in again, she jolted. Her inner muscles tightened around his cock and her eyes were glazed with the intensity of her climax.

“I love you, Vaihan.” She dropped her head back.

Her orgasm squeezed his shaft, and every part of his body tensed. Cum reached the tip.

With one hand, he held her shoulder, and the other, grabbed her inner thigh and pushed her back. The mirror behind her shattered. She convulsed from the toxin. Foam seeped from her mouth onto her chin. She slumped like a ragdoll, folding in on herself.

A bang came from the other side of the door. “Open up.”

“Call an ambulance, now.” The hateful tone of his voice scared him. He knelt and opened the cupboard. There had to be something in it to clean her insides with. A douche in a box stood on the shelf. The packaging removed, he screwed on the nozzle and inserted it into her. Squeezing the bottle, he forced the water into her to wash out the poison. He pulled out his BlackBerry, pushed Marty’s number and lifted it to his ear. Why had she done it?

“Open up.” Peter’s voice came from the other side of the door.

“If you don’t want your sister to die, you’d better make fucking sure there is an ambulance on the way.”

“Vaihan, if you–”

“Without her, nothing matters.” He withdrew the plastic nozzle from between her folds.

“Hello? Helllooo?” came from his smart phone.

“Marty, I need you to meet Leera Waltz at Georgetown University Hospital,” he said, pulling up and buttoning his pants one-handed. “She’s been exposed to a sizable dose of the toxin.”

“How much?”

“Point two zero of an ounce or point two five. I can’t be sure.”

“Method of absorption.”

“Cervical, possibly uteral as well.”

“Fuck.”

His Leera...

“I’ll meet you both there.”

“I won’t be with her.” Once the authorities were informed an undead was involved, the police would arrive first and take him into custody. “She’s lost consciousness and has been out for the past fifty-two seconds.” He ended the call and placed the BlackBerry on the counter next to Leera.

“Police!” A loud bang at the door was followed by another. “Are you armed?”

“No.”

“Identify yourself,” a male demanded in a robust voice.

“Vaihan Louchian, undead serial number zero, zero, zero, one.” He placed his hands behind his head and sat on the seat of the toilet. His priority was to make his apprehension as quick as possible so that the paramedics could get to Leera.

The door flew open. Two officers held guns pointed at him. The larger male pressed cuffs onto his wrists. “All clear.”

Paramedics lifted Leera onto a stretcher.

“What have you done to her?” Peter pushed his way into the bathroom past the gathered guests.

“Listen to me very carefully. Pick up my BlackBerry and redial the last number I called. Marty is the top expert in undead–the toxin–and probably the only person who can save her.”

Peter lifted the phone and followed after the stretcher.

Chapter 23

Rowley rushed up the sidewalk to Leera’s place. What the fuck was going on? Police cars and an ambulance were parked along the road. Lights flashed and sirens wailed. Paramedics loaded Leera into the back of the ambulance. Trailing behind the paramedics, Peter held a BlackBerry to his ear.

“What the fuck happened?”

“I don’t know. Why don’t you ask him?” Peter pointed to the creature the police escorted out of the house in cuffs.

Rowley marched up and shoved him in the chest. “What did you do to her?”

Its vacant eyes met his gaze.

“Sir, step away from the suspect.” The officer gestured.

Wasn’t this exactly what he’d been warning Leera would happen? He closed his hand into a fist and socked the creature in the face. Nothing. No reaction.

“Say something.” Anger boiled inside him.

The officers loaded it into the back of the squad car. If it didn’t go down for the murder of the president, Rowley would ensure it paid over and over in another way for this.

Meg came to the door with her coat open. “Thank goodness you’re here. They are taking Leera to Georgetown Hospital. And in all the mayhem, I’ve started to have contractions.”

“We can take my car.” He held out his hand, leading her to the vehicle and opened the door.

The hospital wasn’t too far. Thankfully. If she had the baby now, he hadn’t the slightest clue what to do. He climbed in and headed east.

“I feel just horrible, and to think I invited him,” Meg said.

Better he not speak. If he did, he’d finally tell her what a nitwit she was. How Peter managed to put up with her, he couldn’t fathom. What man wanted to listen to mindless chatter all day long? Maybe that was the point, though. Mrs. Waltz had been quite the handful from what Leera told him. Perhaps Peter stayed with Meg because she just wasn’t smart enough to ask the right kind of questions about his whereabouts, leaving him to bang his secretaries all he wanted?

Chapter 24

Vaihan leaned back in the steel chair. The interrogation room reeked of sweat, greasy donuts and urine. Officers Tweedledee and Tweedledum gave off an
eau de
bacon grease.

“Let’s try this again.” The officer leaned on the table. “Just tell us what happened with the girl.”

One thirty-two AM, on the clock above the porky prick. Still cuffed, Vaihan rotated his wrists behind him. “I’ve asked for legal counsel and won’t answer any questions about tonight’s event until my lawyer is here. As I’ve stated consistently for the past three hours.” Every time he closed his eyes, the image of Leera slipping from bliss to a drug-induced vacancy sped his heart rate and seized his throat.

“If you cooperate, the judge might go easy on you.” The cop glanced at this partner. “Just tell us what happened, in your own words.”

The porky officer sat across from Vaihan. “We know how women are. Was she playing hard to get? Taunting you with it, but not wanting to go all the way?”

If only that had been the issue. She wanted what he could not give her. For a brief moment, he’d let her convince him that he could be what she needed.

“An undead like you is used to getting whatever he wants.” The fat one licked his lips. “And this little bitch didn’t give a fuck about you or who you are.”

“Don’t speak of her in that way.” Mindless detectives with their games to try to back him into saying something that would incriminate him.

“Why not?” Fatty slammed his hand on the table.

Vaihan leaned his head forward. Whatever the cops were doing to detain his lawyer had to be good. Hours had gone by without a word from outside the room. Soon one of them would need to urinate.

“Are you going to try to sit here and tell us that you didn’t know what would happen, if things got out a hand? The kind of job the poison inside you would do to her? Let me guess. Those bruises between her thighs are from rough sex. How did the mirror break, then?”

If he hadn’t pushed her from him, there would have been no saving her. The glass had shattered and rained down on her.

Neither attempted to provide him an update on her state. “Can one of you follow up on Leera’s condition?” If she didn’t make it... She had to. If anyone could save her, it would be Marty.

“Was she trying to break things off with you? We are trying to help you here, but to do that you need to tell us what happened.”

“As soon as my lawyer arrives, I will answer questions. Not before.”

A knock came from the other side of the door.

“Looks like this might be your lucky day.” The porky one crossed his arms.

The woman he loved might be dead, and this idiot thought the arrival of his lawyer was a lucky break. Simpleton.

The door opened.

Paul waltzed in, briefcase in hand. “A moment with my client.”

The two officers filed out into the hall.

“What have you said?” Dark circles discolored the skin beneath Paul’s eyes.

That was the least of his worries. First, he needed to know if she was all right. “Do you have news on Leera?”

“Yes. Marty has stabilized her, but she has yet to wake.”

A drug-induced coma. Not good. If she didn’t wake in the next few hours, she might never. “Thank you.” He exhaled a long breath. “I’ve told them nothing. I said I wouldn’t answer questions until you got here.”

“And you aren’t going to say anything either.” He opened his briefcase and popped an antacid into his mouth.

“Why not? I’m innocent.”

“They haven’t pressed any charges, which means the evidence is inconclusive. If you make a statement, they will twist what you say to make it fit a confession.”

“If I say nothing, I look guilty.”

“All your critics have been waiting for you to get caught with your pants around your ankles. You make a statement, and they’ll hang you in the media. Don’t say a word when they come back.”

“This is bullshit.”

The door reopened. Officers entered. “Are you ready to answer questions?” one of them said.

“Are you charging my client?” Paul picked up his briefcase.

“No.” The older of the two uniformed police shook his head.

“Release him immediately.”

The larger of the two uncuffed Vaihan. A few steps behind, he followed Paul down the hall.

“You look like hell,” Paul said.

When did people start caring what he looked like? “I need a ride to the hospital. I need to see her.” Even if her family wouldn’t let him, he had to try.

“Under no circumstances whatsoever. Every news outlet in the area is lined up between here and the hospital.” Paul gestured to the route.

“I suggest you come with me in case I run into any legal issues on the way there.”

“You are too stubborn.”

“I love her.”

“It’s good to know you didn’t toss all the work you’ve done out the window over sex.”

Sex was definitely the last thing on his mind.

Chapter 25

Leera covered her face with her hand as the female officer left the hospital room and closed the door. Her brother sat in the corner and had yet to speak. His silence weighed heavily in the room. Anger she could deal with. Silence, not so much.

“Why did you do it?” Peter scooted to the edge of his seat.

What was the real question? “I’m not sure what you’re asking me.”

“You told the officer that you love Vaihan. Why would you put him through this? Or Meg and me. Or yourself? You did say that he told you of the risks and tried to talk you out of it. Why do it, then?”

How rich of him to ask her this. If it wasn’t for his stupidity, she wouldn’t be in the mess she was in. Barton wouldn’t have forced her to spread her legs for the interest of the country.

“Do you get what your actions have cost him?” Peter asked.

He went from worrying about her life to Vaihan’s career. “I’ll explain what happened. I can find a way to fix this.”

“You are blind and naive.” Peter stood. “You could have died, and he would have been charged with murder. He will be crucified in the media over this.”

This wouldn’t be easy to recover from, but there had to be a way she could fix this.

“You are too volatile a personality for anyone working to uplift his people,” Peter said. “You are so much like Momma it sickens me. Maybe you forgot how much we had to manage her behavior to keep her from wrecking Dad’s career all the time.”

Peter couldn’t wound her any deeper. “Dad betrayed Momma and us. How can you put all this on her?”

“She stayed to play the victim, and you do it too. You and Jean were a good fit because he wanted to be needed as much as you lived off being the center of his world. You’d played your little games with Rowley to make Jean jealous, and he went right into them.”

How could he think that about her? She had never encouraged Rowley’s advances while married. Did everyone see her as self-absorbed?

“When the hell did you start going out with Rowley?” Peter demanded to know. “Imagine my surprise when he showed up with Meg, who was suffering from Braxton Hicks contractions from the stress.”

“We went out on one date a few weeks ago. It didn’t go so well. I’ve been in his presence a few times since, but those didn’t go very well either. So I wouldn’t really say we are dating.”

“What’s the draw to him? His obsessive behavior toward you? Do you get a high from being out of control?”

“Stop.” All of this pushing from him was too much.

“How can I, when I either need to worry about you getting killed because you are reckless with Vaihan, or you’re going to get sucked into something dangerous with Rowley.”