Star, Starland Vamp Series, Book 1 (34 page)

“Oh, I have,” Drake replied, looking directly into my eyes. “And I will.”

Michaels shoved me roughly out the door and into the hallway, as Drake’s sinister laugh echoed in the room behind us. Annie followed Michaels out the door. I walked down a narrow hallway, followed by Michaels, when I turned to look at him.

We were alone.

“Where to now?” I asked menacingly, when behind him, Annie lifted the hem of her mini dress. I knew I had to keep him talking.

“Just keep walking, lady,” Michaels replied, then shoved me again, but this time, I didn’t budge.

A slight grin curled the side of my lips as I shook my head. “Na … I don’t think so,” I said, stalling. Behind him, Annie silently pulled a Ballistics knife from a sheath in a garter strapped high at the top of her thigh. “You know why?”

Michaels stepped closer to me until we were nose to nose. My eyes never wavered from his as he sneered, clearly amused. Annie poised herself with the knife behind him, then gave me a slight nod. “No, why?” Michaels asked, and from the look in his eyes, he thought he had me.

Wrong.

I stepped even closer to him, until there was less than an inch between our faces, then I said in a low, menacing voice, “Because you’re going to die.”

And with that, Annie forcefully grabbed his forehead, snapping his head back and ran her knife quickly across his throat as blood gushed from his neck before he could call for help.

I laughed as Annie made one more pass along Michael’s throat and his head fell into her hands. I caught his body before it could hit the ground.

“I’ve wanted to do that for a long time,” Annie said, as we pulled his body into a nearby room. Then with a sneer on her face, she reached down and wiped the blood off her Ballistics knife onto Michaels’ crisp white shirt leaving streaks of crimson red behind.

“I could kiss you right now!” I replied, as we shoved his body into a fireplace.

“I’ll take you up on it later,” Annie said with a mischievous grin as she pulled out a lighter and lit it. “First we need to get rid of this bastard and get to Rick and Zac.”

My body shimmered and shook, changing until I morphed into myself, wearing my black jeans and t-shirt, and black leather jacket and boots. Then I quickly looked down the hallway to make sure we didn’t have company.

With a sinister smile, Annie threw the lighter on the pyre and watched as it went up in flames. I quickly rushed to the window and threw it open to get rid of the smoke. 

Purple, blue, and red flames flashed instantly, reaching high into the chimney as they eagerly engulfed Michaels’ body. Within a few seconds, all that was left of him was a pile of ash. Quickly, the flames died out, except for the flames burning the wood in the fireplace, left from the burning of Michaels’ body.

“Remind me not to get on your bad side!” I said with a laugh, watching the smile lighting up Annie’s face as she watched him burn. “Come on. Let’s get out of here before we have company.”

Annie reached down and threw one of Michaels’ hands that were missed onto the remaining flames, which suddenly flared, then died down just as quickly. “Sorry. I’ve just been putting up with a lot of crap from this bastard for a while. I’m glad to see him burn. Like I said, I’ve wanted to do this for a long time.”

“Tell me about it later,” I replied, quickly closing the window, then I darted to the door at vamp speed. “Let’s get Rick and Zac, then we can come back for Drake.”

“We better take him down now while we still can,” Annie corrected as she followed me toward the door. “The guy knows how to vanish. If he gets away, we’ll never find him again.”

“Well, we can’t let that happen,” I said. The door made a faint squeak as I cautiously opened it.

“Here,” Annie said with her Ballistics knife in hand. “Let me go first. I know the way.” She said, darting in front of me to take the lead.

Quickly, I pulled my Glock 9mm from the back of my pants, thankful weapons morphed with me. I watched our back as we dashed down the long hallway until Annie stopped before a hidden metal door at the end on the right. “Come on,” Annie said as she opened the door, revealing a set of gray metal stairs.

I followed Annie down five flights of stairs. At the bottom was another door.

“I have an idea, Annie,” I said, stepping to the side of the door. My body shimmered, morphing and changing until I looked exactly like Michaels.

“I’d love to know how you do that!” Annie said, laughing and shaking her head, then slipped her hand into my arm. “Come on! Let’s put on a show!”

“Don’t get too carried away, now, Annie!” I said, laughing, as I opened the door for her and her returning laughter was the sound of bells. It was good to see her again, just like old times.

With Annie on my arm, we walked down a long metal corridor until we came to a series of doors. Suddenly, I heard screaming coming down the hallway. I knew instantly that it was Rick, but he wasn’t the only one. Moans came from rooms as we passed the closed doors. What kind of tortures had this mad man been responsible for? And to think his reign of terror hasn’t ended, but has continued behind closed doors since WWII.

I let go of Annie’s arm and ran quickly down the hallway with Annie on my heels. At the end of the hallway was a set of closed heavy metal doors. Annie quickly held a finger to her lips and motioned toward what I assumed was Mengele’s lab.

We walked through the heavy doors into the lab and there was Mengele in the flesh, in a lab filled with many implements of destruction and torture, along with two tables. On one of the tables, bound with iron cuffs around his wrists, ankles, and waist was Rick. On the other table was another young male with sandy blonde hair, strapped down, looking away, and writhing in pain. My heart stopped. But then he turned to face me, and I realized it wasn’t Zac.

Standing on the side were two burly guards—also vamps—holding Uzis. I knew they might be a problem.

“What do we have here?” I asked in Michaels’ baritone voice, looking exactly like him.

Mengele’s black hair was slicked back, resembling the old depictions of Count Dracula. His eyes were a bright green and his skin, pale. Yes, now he was definitely a vamp. The last time I saw him, he was still human, in Germany at Auschwitz. I almost had him once, but he narrowly escaped. It’s not surprising that Clark found him. Mengele’s eyes flared and his lips turned down into a scowl as he glared at me. “I thought I told you never to come down here again,” Mengele bellowed, looking directly into my eyes, holding a metal syringe as he stood over the blonde youth.

Rick looked at me from the table and his eyes flared. He looked haggard and in dire need of blood. Mengele must have been starving him to keep him in a weakened state. Rick’s skin was pale from the lack of blood, but in his eyes, his spirit was still strong. Although I revealed nothing, it killed me to see him like this. He’d be dead in the matter of hours if he didn’t feed soon, that is, if Mengele didn’t kill him first. They must have brought an army after him to bring him down. Sudden guilt filled my heart, knowing I should have been there. Then maybe things would have been different.

I had to get him out and fast.

It was clear that the other youth was transitioning into a vampire. And from the way he was writhing, it hadn’t been long since he was injected. Mengele must have extracted venom from Rick and injected it into this youth, hoping his venom was what made me into a shape shifter.

My eyes flared as I took a step closer. “Oh, I can go anywhere I want,” I said to Mengele in a menacing tone. “So don’t presume to tell me where I can and cannot go.”

Mengele laughed without humor. “Does Drake know you’re here?”

“That’s none of your business,” I replied, taking a step closer, never taking my eyes from his.

“Well, I think he might like to know that one of his dogs has strayed into my lab,” Mengele said, as his eyes flared.

“Don’t threaten me, Mengele,” I replied, taking a step closer. “You have no idea of what I am capable.”

“And you have no idea of what
I
am capable,” Mengele countered, taking a step closer, then he raised an eyebrow. “You’re not Michaels, are you?”

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about,” I replied, my eyes never wavering from his.

“Guards!” Mengele called to the guards on the wall, without taking his eyes from mine as his lips curled into a sneer. “Take him to his room! I have a new patient now.” He indicated the kid writhing in pain, then he took another step closer to me. “Hello, Star. Nice to see you again.”

Within a second, I took the Uzi away from the nearest burly guard before he could blink an eye, and grabbed him by the throat from behind. I turned him around, using him as a shield just as the other vamp shot a round from his Uzi into his friend. The vamp in my arms writhed in pain as the bullets caused him to jump. Crimson blood spurt from his body.

“Not him, you idiot!” Mengele yelled at the vamp with the Uzi, darting toward Rick.

In an instant, Annie took down the other burly vamp, grabbing the Uzi from him, then blew his brains halfway across the room.

“Stop right there,” Mengele said, and when I looked over my shoulder, he had Rick off the table, his head pulled back by the hair and a scalpel at his throat, using him as a shield.

Annie and I froze, with our Uzis pointed at Mengele’s head.

“Put down the weapons, ladies, or he dies,” Mengele said, his eyes flaring.

We didn’t lower our weapons.

“I said
now!
” Mengele yelled, pushing the blade of his scalpel into his throat. Rick didn’t flinch, but closed his eyes once, then opened them again, giving us a signal. I knew that Rick wanted us to take him down, no matter the cost. He would gladly give his life to stop this mad scientist, but I just couldn’t let that happen.

Annie and I didn’t lower our weapons. I just blinked once at Rick.

Annie stepped closer, near Rick, as I took a step closer, too, my lips curling into a full smile.

Suddenly, Mengele was unnerved. “I’ll take his head off! I mean it!” Then he pulled Rick’s head back, shoving the ultra sharp scalpel closer to his throat, causing a trickle of blood to ooze around the edges.

“Okay, okay!” Annie said, taking another step closer, then put the Uzi onto the floor, bringing her closer to Rick. “Just let him go.”

Then Mengele turned his attention to me. “You, too!” His hand was suddenly shaking. For all the pain he’d inflicted upon others, he was a coward himself. Figures. “Put the weapon on the floor or he dies!”

I took a step closer, pointing the Uzi at his head. “Okay, just let him go.” Rick’s eyes flared as if wondering why I was surrendering, why I was lowering my weapon, then my eyes traveled to Annie’s thigh.

Rick smiled. 

Mengele took a breath, relieved, relaxing his hold on Rick as he sneered. Within the blink of an eye, Rick reached under the hem of Annie’s dress and grabbed the Ballistics knife in the garter strapped in a sheath to her thigh, then turned to Mengele and shoved the knife into Mengele’s chest. Mengele’s eyes were wide with surprise as Rick yelled into his face, “Die, you commie bastard!” Then Rick slit his throat, and a second later, Mengele’s head was in his hands.

“Alright, Rick!” I said, taking a step toward him.

But he turned to me, still holding the knife, as Annie smiled. “Star, forgive me, I know it’s you, but I have to be sure. Change and prove to me it’s you or I’ll kill you, too.”

“Take it easy, Rick!” I said, then in an instant, my body morphed and shimmered, changing into myself. “It’s me, Rick! It’s me!”

He took a deep breath and lowered the knife, then practically fell into my arms. “Sorry, Star. I’ve just been through a lot. It’s so good to see you, girl.”

I held him close within my arms, supporting his weight. “My God, Rick! What have they done to you?” It was good to have him within my arms, to know he was safe and alive.

Then he pulled back to look into my eyes. “You don’t want to know,” he said, then turned to face Annie with an arm around my shoulders. “Annie, thanks for coming through. You’re the best.”

“Did I just hear you correctly? Did you just say
I’m
the best?” Annie asked seductively, stepping closer to Rick, her eyes never wavering from his. “As in, the best agent, the best girl?”

I rolled my eyes as I laughed. Annie would never change.

But, to my surprise, Rick didn’t waver. Taking a step closer to her, he replied, “Not girl … woman.” Then he took her into his arms, his eyes never releasing hers, and lifted the hem of her dress and shoved the Ballistics knife back into the leather sheath in her garter. “I like this dress,” he said, pulling her close. Then his lips descended hungrily onto hers, moving with years of pent up passion. Her passion met his, and their lips moved together in familiar ways, as if they were made for each other.

With a smile, I cleared my throat.

They pulled back from each other, only slightly embarrassed, but Rick’s arm was still wrapped around Annie when he turned to face me. “Sorry, Star. I’m happy to see you both,” Rick said with a smile. “And thanks for letting me kill that son of a bitch. I’ve been dying to do that.”