Blood Crave Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Preface

  Chapter 1 - THE HUNT

  Chapter 2 - VERDICT

  Chapter 3 - SANITY

  Chapter 4 - THE SENSE

  Chapter 5 - THE WAITING GAME

  Chapter 6 - NO BREATHING

  Chapter 7 - BLOOD PACT

  Chapter 8 - INFLAMED

  Chapter 9 - EXPERIMENTATION

  Chapter 10 - VIRAN

  Chapter 11 - THE BREAK-UP

  Chapter 12 - PUNCH-DRUNK

  Chapter 13 - HUMAN SHIELD

  Chapter 14 - REPAIR

  Chapter 15 - JUST A PULL

  Chapter 16 - BLOOD BANK

  Chapter 17 - THE STALKER

  Chapter 18 - JEALOUSY

  Chapter 19 - BLOOD BITCHES

  Chapter 20 - NEGOTIATION

  Chapter 21 - FAIR WARNING

  Chapter 22 - CONFESSIONS

  Chapter 23 - ULTIMATUM

  Chapter 24 - SURVIVAL

  Chapter 25 - THE MISSING

  Chapter 26 - SLIPPING BELOW THE SURFACE

  Chapter 27 - GOOD-BYE

  Chapter 28 - MURDER

  Chapter 29 - ACCIDENT

  Chapter 30 - BROOD

  Chapter 31 - TURNING

  Chapter 32 - THE OTHER SIDE

  Chapter 33 - AT PEACE

  Chapter 34 - BETRAYAL

  Acknowledgments

  Copyright Page

  For my mother.

  Because you read it first when it was suckiest,

  and told me you loved it anyway.

  I love you always.

  PREFACE

  It starts with heat. A sting. The bite. The fleeting, fragile moment when fangs break skin.

  It’s cruel, really, that heat is what I feel first. Like a reminder. This is the last warmth I’ll ever feel. From the moment the venom seeps into my body until I’m sent willingly, mercifully to my death, I will never feel warm again.

  Because immediately after the heat, the coldness begins. It spreads from the puncture wounds in my throat deep into my chest like a rushing river. I can feel it pumping through my veins, spreading throughout my body until I’m burning with cold. Poison incapacitates me completely as the eager, pallid faces of the dead loom above. I am unable to move as fangs slide easily from my throat and my head cracks hard on the stone floor. A delicate bloody wrist appears in my vision, coming closer to my mouth. I want to get away, want to close my mouth. Fight. But my body won’t respond. All I can hear is my own blood rushing furiously in my ears and somewhere, as though from very far away, the desperate cries of my boyfriend as he struggles to save me.

  1

  THE HUNT

  “Lucas, I’m dying.”

  He approached me on silent feet, head bent to inspect my wound.

  “You’re such a baby,” he said and turned away.

  “Seriously,” I croaked, clutching my toe. “It’s going to fall off.”

  “Shh,” he hissed. “How are we supposed to get the jump on a vampire with you whining constantly?”

  I let my throbbing foot drop, carefully avoiding the stray log I’d kicked. “I’m just nervous.”

  “If you were going to wimp out, you shouldn’t have come.” He glanced over at me. “Do I need to take you back?”

  “No!” I was nervous, but I still wanted to help. After all, how many times does one get to go vampire hunting with a werewolf and live to talk about it?

  Well, I hoped I lived to talk about it, anyway.

  “Good,” he grunted and beckoned me further down the side of the barn. “Because I don’t know how much use this will be without you.”

  I couldn’t help but smile at that. The fact that a three-hundred-year-old werewolf needed my help was pretty cool. Add in that Lucas had actually let me come on this trip, well, it was just short of a miracle. This wasn’t some scenic joyride through vampire territory. No, this mission into a dead vampire’s lair was occurring for one purpose and one purpose only: to prove to the pack that there was, in fact, a vampire uprising.

  Three weeks ago, Vincent had all but told me it was going to happen in the near future, and maybe it was naïve of me, but I took him at his word. The pack, however, was not so certain. In fact, they dismissed the very idea that the vampires would want to rise up, claiming that they’d never have the guts to challenge the wolf packs.

  Even in the face of the continued murders of young girls across Colorado they refused to believe.

  Which basically meant Lucas and I had one day to convince them otherwise. Tomorrow evening, he was almost surely going into the silver room as punishment for disobeying Rolf on the last full moon, and our shot at convincing the pack to take action before it was too late would be over.

  But I preferred not to think about that. I had to concentrate on the current mission—that way I wouldn’t stub my toe on any more logs. Or, you know ... get eaten.

  “Do you smell anything?” I whispered.

  “Oh, yeah. This place reeks of the dead,” Lucas said. “But it’s mostly Vincent’s scent.”

  “So you don’t think there are any more around?”

  “We’ll find out in a few minutes.”

  I gulped. The sun was slipping below the horizon at a disconcertingly brisk pace, taking our safety along with it. I shuddered, leaning heavily against the wall of the barn.

  The barn.

  Who ever thought I’d be here again?

  The only surefire way to prove the uprising was a reality was to hear it straight from a vampire of the Denver brood. Which, of course, meant that we needed to catch a vampire.

  Luckily, we already knew of one. Vincent’s.

  It was a long shot to think there’d be any more vampires sleeping here, since the werewolves raided the place, but it was our only lead. We had to at least try.

  “Okay,” Lucas said, eyeing the darkening sky. “You remember the plan, right?”

  I nodded, throat tight.

  “And no matter what happens, you promised to stick to that plan.” He rounded on me. “Right?”

  Another shaky nod from me.

  He began shedding his clothes. “And if something goes wrong, you get to the car as fast as you can and leave. Don’t stop till you get to Gould.”

  “Okay.”

  He kicked his shoes off and unbuckled his belt. “You have the stake I gave you?”

  I held it up in a white-knuckled fist. It was double-ended with a silver tip on one side and a wooden one on the other.

  “Good. Don’t be afraid to use it.”

  “But you said I won’t have to, right? If everything goes as planned.”

  “That’s the idea.” Nude now, he turned away to face the rear entrance of the barn, crouching low. “No more noise now. Try not to let the wind catch you. We don’t want your scent to tip them off.”

  Okay. Be quiet. Avoid wind. Use stake. Got it.

  “Be careful,” I said, unable to stop myself.

  He rose and turned, taking my cheek as he kissed me softly. He pulled away with a devious smile. “You ready to kick some vampire ass?”

  I released a reluctant laugh.

  His hand closed over mine, squeezing my hold tighter on the stake. Then he turned and began to tremor. My heart went haywire, and I was unable to keep myself from backing up. This was the part of the plan I was most nervous about. My power was still so unpredictable. What if I couldn’t forge a connection?

  I didn’t want him to do this, but if we were going to catch a vampire, we couldn’t take any chances. Lucas had to change. And I had to connect to him.

  Just please let this work. . . .

  In an instant, Lucas exploded and then re-formed into a hulking black wolf. He’d been f
acing away from me when he changed, but he immediately rounded on me, hackles raised. I had about three seconds to link our minds.

  Silver eyes burned into mine, both fierce and terrified at the same time. I inhaled deeply, trying to calm down so I could do this. His deep, gravelly snarl only ratcheted my heart rate up further. I could see his back tensing up, his lips curling more tightly around his gums. Any second now, he would pounce and this would all be over. My hand sweated around the silver stake I was supposed to use against him.

  No. I can do this.

  I channeled my gift, feeling that familiar zap of electricity ripple though my chest and filter through every limb until I was a live wire. When I focused on Lucas’s eyes again, that was it—bam. We were one.

  His emotions attacked me in a conflicting mess of canine instincts and werewolf protectiveness. He’d told me that werewolves were meant to protect humans from harm, but his wolf instincts told him that humans were potentially dangerous. He wanted to protect me, but was afraid at the same time.

  It’s okay, I said in my mind, sending him soothing emotions. I’m here to help you.

  This was part of the plan, too: reminding Lucas’s doggie mind of what we were here to do. As a wolf, his instincts took precedent over higher thinking, and although he’d remember vaguely what we were supposed to be doing, he’d need my help to make sure he did everything the way we’d planned.

  Gradually, I felt Lucas begin to trust me, felt the fear ebb and his determination to keep me from harm increase. Good. That’s it.

  Lucas’s body was almost completely smudged out in the darkness, which meant it was time to get him into the barn to investigate.

  Okay, you remember the plan?

  I didn’t get a clear answer as much as a feeling. He remembered.

  Don’t kill all of them, if any are in there. We need one to question. And once I’m done asking questions, remember we need to get it into the car, okay? So just do what I say.

  Compliance.

  I grinned. This was going rather well.

  He let out a low growl, and I could feel that he wanted me to stay put.

  Okay. Be careful.

  He sniffed at me and slunk around the edge of the barn, creeping silently into the fathomless darkness within. It was several minutes before I heard anything, and my stomach was cramping so hard with nerves I felt like I was going to puke. The only thing keeping me together was that I still had Lucas’s connection, and could feel that he was alive.

  Then someone screamed.

  My heart stopped completely, and it took everything I had to keep from running into the barn.

  “Get the human!” someone shouted.

  An unearthly growling sound erupted and then more screaming. Sounds of a scuffle—banging, grunting, and Lucas’s yowling—reached my ears. Pain radiated from his vibe so strongly it hurt me as well. I clutched the stake, flipping it around so that the wooden end faced outward. Any longer, and I was going in. To hell with the plan.

  Another high-pitched scream and a thump.

  More fighting, and then, without warning, the connection dropped.

  I ran into the barn, yelling Lucas’s name. It was almost completely dark inside with only the blue light streaming in from the hayloft above. At first I couldn’t see anything, then I caught sight of a human lying still on the ground with blood pouring out of her throat. I started to rush to her to help, but a noise to my left made me stop. I whirled around to see—

  Oh, thank God.

  Lucas was okay. He was just human again.

  That wasn’t part of the plan, but at least he was alive. And he’d managed to subdue the vampire. It was a man, thin and eerily beautiful as all vampires were, but still sort of creepy-looking when you really looked at him. His pointed, blood-soaked teeth were bared, and he was doing everything is his power to throw Lucas off of him.

  “Get off of me, filthy dog!” he yelled, thrashing.

  “Yeah, because that’s gonna happen,” Lucas said. He waved me over, and I handed him the stake. Careful to avoid the silver, he pressed the wooden end directly above the vampire’s heart. “Move again and you’re history.”

  The vampire calmed somewhat, but let loose a stream of vile curses.

  “Is the human okay?” Lucas asked.

  I went over to check. “She’s been bitten,” I said, voice shaking. “She’s paralyzed.”

  The vampire hissed a laugh and I heard Lucas punch him.

  “Leave her and I’ll deal with it afterward,” Lucas said. “I need you here.”

  “But she’s bleeding.”

  “Faith.”

  His tone told me not to argue further, so I returned to the struggling enemies and stood behind Lucas, too afraid to get closer. Lucas was supposed to be a wolf for this part, since he was stronger that way, but I found myself glad he’d changed back into a human. Just the sight of this vampire—of any vampire—was enough to make my brain all slow and fuzzy.

  Lucas, however, didn’t seem to have the same problem.

  “We gotta do this quick. There was another one that got away, and she might bring reinforcements.”

  “What were they doing in here?” I asked.

  “Looked like a feeding frenzy.” He nodded to the right and I turned to see—

  I choked back a sudden surge of vomit.

  “Oh, God,” I whispered, looking away quickly.

  In the corner of the barn was a pile of dead bodies, some new enough to have been killed tonight while others ... well, it accounted for the smell of death Lucas had reported earlier, and which I was now privy to.

  “The girl,” I said, worried about the one who was still alive over there.

  “Will die,” Lucas said.

  “But—”

  “It’s protocol, Faith. Either I kill her now, or she becomes like this sack of maggots.” He slammed the vampire’s head into the earth.

  At his grunt of pain, I came back to the situation. Now was not the time to lose it.

  “We need to find out if he knows anything before we bring him back to the mansion,” Lucas said. “So you need to read his emotions when I ask him the questions.”

  “I know,” I said.

  “Just reminding you. You look a little freaked.”

  “I’m fine.” I swallowed hard and tried to focus. Looking at the vampire’s bloody, beautiful face was not something I was keen on doing, but I had to in order to get the strongest read on his emotions. In fact . . . “I should touch him.”

  “Screw off, human slime,” the vampire growled. Lucas slashed his cheek with the stake.

  “You don’t speak unless I say,” Lucas rumbled. He glanced back at me. “Touch his foot or something.”

  I bent and pulled his slacks back to touch his calf. At once, a wave of his emotions fell on me like a collapsed building. He was furious and scared, but that didn’t take a rocket scientist—or a telepath—to figure out. What I was looking for was signs of deceit.

  “I’m ready,” I said.

  Lucas rounded on the vampire. “Tell me what you know about the uprising.”

  “What uprising?”

  “You know damn well what uprising. Start talking or I’ll start taking your eyes out.”

  Gross. This was definitely a side of Lucas I’d never seen before.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” But I could feel differently. He was hiding something—I just couldn’t tell what it was.

  “He knows something,” I said. The vampire hissed viciously at me, cursing me off.

  Lucas rammed his head into the dirt again. “Tell the truth. As you can see, we’ll know if you lie.”

  “I don’t know anything ab—”

  Lucas brought the stake directly over his eyeball, and the vampire cringed. “Lie again. Please. I think I’ll enjoy making you eternally blind.”

  The vampire gulped and then said, “Okay . . . but promise to let me free after.”

  “Only thing I can promise you is a s
wift death, leech. Now start talking.”

  “Why should I—”

  Lucas lowered the point of the stake so that it dug into the delicate skin of his closed eyelid.

  “Okay!” the vampire screeched. “I know very little, but I know enough. If you just let me go . . .”

  “We’ll let you go,” I said. Lucas turned to me. I shrugged. Why would he tell us anything if he was going to die anyway?

  Lucas looked a little stunned by my input, but to my surprise, went along with me. “Sure vampire, we’ll let you go, okay? Just tell us what you know.”

  The vampire deliberated for a long moment, and I felt the mistrust roiling through him as he did so, but finally croaked out with, “I know that the monarch is collecting women. She likes them young and she likes the pretty ones because they make the best hunters. She wants them for the army.”

  Lucas looked over at me, fire in his eyes.

  “He’s telling the truth.”

  “What else?” Lucas demanded. “Who’s your monarch? Where is the lair?”

  “I can’t tell you.”

  Lucas began to start up with the stake-in-the-eye thing again, but the vampire screamed out, “It’s the truth! Ask her! Ask her!”

  I felt for it, and found, unfortunately, that he wasn’t lying.

  “Why can’t you tell?” I asked.

  “It’s forbidden. Vampire magic ... when we swear our allegiance to the brood, we are bound by a gag. I cannot utter her name nor reveal the existence of our lair without her permission. And I do not have it.”

  “But it’s a chick,” Lucas said. “That’s something.”

  “Not enough,” I said. “Rolf will need more than this.”

  Lucas adjusted his hold on the vampire, but made sure to keep the stake poised at his chest. “What can you tell me about the plan to wage war on the wolf packs?”

  Something flickered in his vibe—not exactly deceit, but close. I was about to say something, when the vampire began talking.

  “The monarch wants to crush Rolf ’s pack and all others on the planet. We’re sick of living in the shadows. We want to kill without consequence, and the only way to accomplish this is if the werewolves are out of the picture.”