Waiting for Darkness (Blood Martyr) Page 9

  She stood there, hands on her narrow, girlish hips that had not yet begun to blossom and never would. She was turned right as she was going through puberty and would forever look underaged. I didn’t think there could be anything worse than looking fourteen forever. I mean, at least I’d never get carded if I ever walked into a place that served alcohol.

  Her on the other hand…I could sort of see why she turned out the way she did.

  “I never expected to meet you in this fashion, Tanith. Of course, I knew you’d come for your pretty boy, but I never thought, well….” She waved a hand vaguely in the air, and her nails sparkled crimson in the soft candlelight. So red. What the hell did she use? Something that vivid could not have come from a bottle. “So, are you not going to get back on your knees and beg? Because I was rather expecting you to.”

  I shifted on my feet, spacing them out just a little bit. If I had to fight to get Mitch and Jamison out of here, alive, then I’d do it. If I had to kill Raylene, then I’d do that too.

  “Sorry to disappoint, Raylene. But I’m not going to grovel.”

  Her smile grew frigid. “Is that so? Well, I suppose I’ll have to make you.”

  She moved, and I darted back—too late. Her knifelike nails slashed into my side, tearing through my clothes and biting deeply into my skin.

  It hurt. It really fucking hurt, and my legs weakened as I staggered back, clamping a hand to the wound. Blood seeped through the gaps of my fingers and dripped down on my pants. Ugh, blood was so hard to get out of clothes.

  “Aw, that’s no fun. Too easy. I was expecting you to dodge that. I guess it’s true what they say about you turning civilized.” She licked at her bloody fingertips and then promptly spat on the carpet. “Disgusting! I just don’t understand how humans can taste so sweet, but our blood is just so bitter. I mean, you’d think what with us taking their blood…but I guess our body just processes it in a different way, don’t you think?”

  This felt positively unreal, to be having a conversation like this, with her crouching in nothing but stilettos, and me up against a wall, my wound not clotting. Fuck. It should’ve healed by now.

  I needed blood. If I didn’t get blood in me soon, I just might bleed to death.

  But there was no one there. The madam was already dead, and I couldn’t very well drink Raylene’s blood.

  The only way I’d make it out alive was if I killed Raylene, and it would have to be soon.

  She peered closely at me. “Hm…now that is strange.” She laughed and stood back up to her feet. “Haven’t had blood recently, have you? Of course, I don’t blame you…I’m sure you haven’t had any blood since Jamison, and since he’s been here for three days….”

  “Don’t say his name!” I was pissed angry, and I really needed myself not to be.

  I had to be calm, had to be focused, but every time she said his name, rolled his name on her tongue like the best vintage, I was sorely tempted not to throw myself at her. But she was faster than me, and if I lost control, she could easily take advantage of that.

  “What? Jamison?” Raylene’s smile widened. “Jamison….”

  She trailed out his name, and I couldn’t stand it.

  I snapped.

  I lunged for her, desperation filling every pore in my body. For a moment, my hand had touched her neck before she kicked me in the stomach with those stilettos, hard enough to cause black sparks to erupt at the corners of my vision. Had I been human, she would’ve left a hole in my stomach the size of a coffee can. But I was not, and instead, I hit the opposite wall from the force of her blow. If I thought the cuts on my side hurt, those paltry wounds were nothing compared to this.

  The wall shuddered as my back hit brick under the wallpaper, and pain sliced through my entire body, making me scream out loud. My mind went completely blank for a moment, and I slid down the wall to hit the carpet floor, landing hard on the right side of my face.

  “This is just too, too easy, Tanith. Come on. Can’t you put up a fight? I mean, if you just let me play around, it won’t be half as fun when I kill you. I’d rather tear you apart when you’re fighting against me.” She giggled, and for the first time since I walked into this place, I realized the serious danger of me actually dying here.

  Her heels minced closer and closer to me, and I tried to level myself back up to my feet. My arms trembled as I put my weight on them, and I couldn’t protect myself when her foot struck out and planted right on my solar plexus.

  I couldn’t breathe. The vision wavered before my eyes, and as she pulled her foot away, I let myself fall, too tired, too hurt to do anything more than try to learn how to breathe again.

  “Tanith!” she whined, sounding perturbed. “Are you just going to lie down there and let me kill you? That’s so unfair. You walk into my home, kill one of employees, and then you won’t even put up a fair fight? This is just so, so disappointing.”

  I tried to turn my head, tried to look at her so that I could at least know when she’d start stepping on me. Not that I was able to stop her, but a little advance warning would have been nice to have. But my neck wouldn’t cooperate. Perhaps I ruptured something, definitely torn a few things.

  She started to walk past me, the smell of blood thick on her naked skin. “Oh, fine then. If you’re not even going to bother to try, then I don’t know why I should even waste my time with you. Now if you don’t mind, I believe I’ve got two humans to get rid of.”

  No.

  No.

  My mind cried out, and I tried to move my hands, but my body wouldn’t obey. My fingers wouldn’t even twitch.

  Jamison.

  I would never get to see his smile again. I would never get to feel the silk of his hair against my skin.

  Mitch.

  I was never going to hear another one of his insanely stupid jokes again. I would no longer have anyone to call when I needed help.

  “Stop.”

  I didn’t know how I did it, didn’t know where the strength came from. But my hand gripped her ankle, and I slowly pushed myself up. Slowly, but I was definitely standing up now. Good. This was a start.

  “You’re not going anywhere.”

  “Oh?” Raylene cocked her head to one side. “Really? And are you going to stop me? You can barely stand up because you’re too we—”

  I lashed out with my good hand, catching her right across the cheekbone, and this time she was the one who hit the opposite wall.

  My hand ached. My side pulsed like it had its own heart, and my back felt like an orc had tap danced on it. But the pain was nothing to me. Superficial at best.

  Raylene got back on her feet, minus the six-inch heels, and wiped at the blood seeping from the corner of her mouth.

  “You bitch.”

  I wasn’t afraid anymore. In my mind, I already knew who the victor of this battle would be, and that was the only thing that mattered. How I got there didn’t really make much of a difference, just as long as the deed was done.

  I smiled, and her face blanched. Why, I never know because, in that instant she threw a punch in my direction, and I took a step to the right, avoiding her completely. She put all her weight behind that blow, and when her body flew past hitting nothing but empty air, I grabbed her head with both hands.

  “Say hello to Old Scratch for me, will you, Ray?”

  She looked at me, a quiet resignation in those azure eyes, a sort of calm I hadn’t known she possessed. In those eyes, she asked for forgiveness, but that was something I couldn’t give.

  I closed my eyes and jerked her head around. Her body shuddered for a moment before I heard the vicious crack and the subsequent silence always following in the wake of death.

  Her body fell to the floor for the last time, and I sat down, my knees gone strangely weak. The physical, mental strain had taken their toll on me, and I was completely wasted. Even if an axe murderer came running into the room, I didn’t think I was able to lift a finger.

  Thankfully, when someone lumb
ered around the corner half a minute later, it was not a crazed convict wielding a bloody axe.

  “Tanith!”

  Mitch nearly dropped the bundle of rags in his arms.

  The bundle moved slightly, and I realized it was Jamison, wrapped up in blankets.

  Amazing how the body thinks it can no longer go on, but then something happens that pushes it, forces it to move, gives the body a jolt to make it move even though every muscle is crying out for rest.

  A pale arm fell out of the pile and dangled down in the air, frighteningly still, and I levered myself back up to my feet, every muscle in my body protesting every time I even thought about moving.

  “How is he?” I asked, although it should have been obvious. The sheets covered his face, and perhaps things were better off that way. Mitch’s lips drew tight, and he glanced at Raylene, her neck twisted at a grotesque angle. “Let’s just say if you hadn’t killed her, I would’ve done it myself. Oh, and by the way, I’ve got something for your eyes because you need to come with us. It’s in my back pocket.”

  Seeing as how his arms were occupied at the moment, I relieved him of the ugliest pair of sunglasses I’d ever had the misfortune of seeing, much less wearing. But the lenses were huge and dark and would do the job they were intended to do. Mitch did not tell me where he found them, and to be honest, I didn’t want to know. Ignorance was bliss.

  “Ready to go?” he asked, and I shook my head.

  “Go on ahead. I’ll meet you at the car. I’ve got something to do here.”

  He didn’t ask me what, and for that, I was grateful.

  Making sure I had the sunglasses safely over my eyes, I opened the front door for him, and the first rays of sunlight pierced the room, illuminating it in a way candlelight could never hope to achieve. Mitch walked out with his bundle, and I stayed inside and closed the door firmly behind him, shucking off the glasses for the moment.

  “A phoenix, huh?” I said quietly, not looking forward to the task I had to do.

  I crouched down next to Raylene’s body and took a deep breath. I didn’t want to do this, but I really didn’t want to run the risk of her coming back from the grave. Again. Once was more than enough.

  I placed my hand over her chest and closed my eyes, mostly because I didn’t want to see what her body looked like on the inside. A knife would have made things much neater, but I didn’t have one, so I made do with my hands and a pen I found in my coat pocket.

  Dark, foul-smelling blood splattered on my clothes, but there wasn’t much I could do about that. Ripping with my hands, breaking past her rib cage, I withdrew the heart that had kept her walking for all these hundreds of years.

  The organ seemed so small and fragile in my hand. I hated the feel of it against my skin and resisted the urge to just drop the thing and pray she’d never open her eyes. But I couldn’t do that. Not when I was almost done.

  Grabbing a candle from one of the many holders set against the wall, I touched the small flame to the heart and watched it burn. I left it aflame on a small cabinet set next to the door.

  I had enough of this place. I wiped the blood off my hands as best as I could, set the glasses back on my face, and walked out.

  With a small prayer for Raylene, I let the sunlight touch her body, and hoped she finally found the peace she’d been after for so long.

  I got back into the car and tried to strap myself in, until I realized flying through the windshield was the least of my problems. I didn’t dare turn in my seat to look behind me, and Mitch slowly backed out of the parking lot.

  “You all right?” he asked quietly, and I closed my eyes.

  “No.”

  I didn’t think I was going to be all right.

  Not for a long, long time.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Perfect love casteth out fear

  Bible : John I

  I stared at the hospital walls for the second time in two days, each at different locations of the same hospital, and decided I never wanted to sit on a plastic chair again.

  Mitch had carted Jamison straight to the emergency ward, while I caught a taxi home so I wouldn’t have to stroll through the hospital, with more carnage on me than a mauled victim. I didn’t think I’d be able to walk one meter before they tossed me on a hospital gurney. My wounds had clotted, but hadn’t healed up; I’d need blood to do that.

  Whose blood I didn’t know.

  When I arrived, all spicandspan at the hospital, one of the nurses told me Kieran had checked out an hour before I showed up, apparently all healed up. Lucky bastard. When I’d asked for Jamison’s room, they told me only immediate family members would be allowed to see him.

  So there I was, sitting in the waiting room, waiting for Mitch to join me. I hated being alone with just my thoughts to amuse me. An image of Raylene with those pleading eyes kept on popping up before my eyes, and I found myself flipping through an outdated fashion magazine, staring at underfed models. Better them than those azure eyes.

  “Tanith. Are you feeling all right?”

  Mitch sat heavily in the seat beside me, dark circles around his eyes, and I thought he should have been asking that question to himself.

  “I’m fine. How’s Jamison? Is he up?”

  He nodded slowly. “Yes, he’s up. Coherent, too, bit of a shock, really. Considering what he’s been through, I would’ve expected him to have gone completely insane. He’s lucky we showed up when we did. Any longer and I think Raylene would have either broken his mind or his body.”

  Now I was feeling ridiculously happy I killed her.

  “What room is he in?” I didn’t want to sit around anymore. I had to see Jamison. Had to see for myself that he was all right. It was because of me he ended up in such a place like that. It was my fault things ended up this way.

  Everything was my fault.

  I had to make amends.

  “Wait.” Mitch pulled me back down, and turned to face me, his expression even more serious.

  “Why? Give me one good reason why I should not go see him this very minute. The least I can do is drop to my knees and beg for his forgiveness.” I said, trying not to whine.

  He sighed. “It’s not as easy as that, you know? Think about it, Tan. He spent three long days and nights with one of the most sadistic vampires ever known to exist.”

  “And your point is?” I stood up. If he wasn’t going to tell me, then I’d get a nurse. And if a nurse wouldn’t tell me, then I’d break down every goddamned door in this fucking building until I found Jamison.

  “For Christ’s Sake, sit your fucking ass down and listen to me!” He shouted in exasperation and a young mother turned shocked eyes toward us and clamped her hands over her son’s ears, who was staring at us with eyes the size of a halfdollar piece.

  I did as he told me. For now.

  “Now, what is so important you’ve got to keep me from going to Jamison?” I asked, not bothering to hide how irritated I’d grown. Mitch was my friend, one of my closest friends, someone I could always count on, but sometimes, his thoughtful ways made me want to tear my head out. He’d always been “thought first, action second” while I was the direct opposite. Occasionally, I had to ask myself how we became friends in the first place.

  He cleared his throat, and there was an uncomfortable silence that filled the space between us.

  “Mitch? Are you going to tell me or just sit there like a wart on a frog?”

  He sighed and leaned his head back against the wall. “Look, like I said, it’s just not easy talking about this. But, to put things bluntly, I don’t think you should go see him right now.”

  My heart lurched in the most painful way.

  “What? Why not?”

  “Just leave him be, Tan. He’s been through a lot of trauma and he needs to be around…normal people. No vampires.”

  Maybe I’d unknowingly breathed in stupid gas or something, but I had absolutely no idea what he was getting at. “Would you please clarify that for me? What
do you mean, no vampires?”

  He reached out for my hands and it felt good, sharing physical contact with someone.

  “Raylene really fucked him up. He just needs some time away from anything that reminds him of her. Just give him some time. Take it slow. Let him heal and he’ll come back to you.”

  Always, Mitch had been the wise man in my circle of companions.

  But I couldn’t accept his words this time.

  Not when I felt so responsible.

  I pulled away from him and stood back up. Damn what Mitch thought. He couldn’t possibly understand the turmoil that was brewing inside of me. The only way to ease the storm, would be seeing Jamison and seeing his smile again. Everything would be all right.

  I didn’t know, at that point, just how wrong I would be.

  Mitch stared up at me, looking every one of his thirtyeight years. “You’re still going to see him?”

  “Are you going to stop me?” I asked, quietly and he shook his head.

  “No, I’d be a dead man if I tried. His room number is 714, on the seventh floor and room 14. Mind you, I’m only telling you because you’d end up tearing the place up, and that’s not going to make anyone happy.”

  Mitch really knew me too well, and I bent down, kissing him gently on the forehead.

  “Thank you. For everything.” I said, even though words seemed terribly inadequate.

  He smiled softly. “Yeah, whatever. Go to him if you absolutely have to. Maybe you can save him.”

  I didn’t know about saving him, but as I half jogged, half powerwalked to the elevators, I couldn’t help but feel as though Mitch had been the one to save everyone today.

  Once in the elevators, I tried to ignore the way everyone was surreptitiously gawking at the enormous sunglasses. They really were huge and covered half my face. I probably looked like a person whose head was half ant, and the thought of that made me afraid to look in a mirror.

  The doors slid open on the seventh floor and I slipped out, grateful I no longer had a nurse, an old man with a cast around his middle, and a child with bandages running from his torso to his neck, eyeballing me as if they suddenly expected me to sprout antennas.