"It's up to you, slave," Augustine snaps. "Give me what I want, or-" The door shudders. Once, twice, and then it's still.
"It's like three little piggies," Declan mutters.
"Shhhhhh," Parker and Laurie hiss.
I wait with my hand over my heart. One, two, three heartbeats. My heart beats for Grizz, and now he's gone. I gave him my all, but I have one thing I can give.
I stand up, ignoring Parker's desperate cry, "No!", and open the door.
"I'm here."
I step outside.
Grizz
I'M SITTING at a light when I realize my pocket's vibrating. I pull out my phone and answer with an annoyed grunt.
"They took her!"
Chills run up my arms. "Who? Jordy?"
"The vampires! They came and-" a muffled sound like the phone was dropped.
"Declan? Parker?" I grit my teeth and my phone cracks. Fuck, I almost broke it. I force my grip to loosen.
"Grizz?"
"Talk to me." The light turns green and some fucker in a Honda Civic honks at me. I turn and glare until the Civic creeps around me and screeches away. "What happened?"
"The vampires came. We were in the trailer, but they started to take it apart and-" he gasps, gulping air.
"And what?" I growl. I'm gonna shift into a bear in the middle of traffic if I'm not careful.
"And Jordy went out to them. She sacrificed herself. She saved us."
Jordy. No.
"The vampires have her?"
"They threw her into the trunk and drove off. We tried to follow but lost them."
"Where?" I bark, already turning my bike. "Tell me where, dammit-"
"Oro Valley."
"Fuck," I explode, and hang up. I know where they're taking her.
I turn my bike and book it. All this time hunting vampires, and they were hunting her. I left her in danger. I promised I'd keep her from the vampires, and I failed. I left her. Should've gotten her out of town when I had the chance.
Might as well gift wrapped her and given her to Augustine. And the one-eyed vampire.
The stoplight ahead turns yellow and I zoom through it as it turns red. Hang on, little Kit.
Gotta get to Jordy before it's too late.
I weave through traffic but get stuck behind an eighteen wheeler and have to put my foot down to steady the bike. I slam the right handle and it dents.
Does the one-eyed vampire know what she means to me? He'll kill her for sure. Shit, the teddy bear. Drenched in blood and Jordy's scent. Maybe Jordy's blood. She said she remembered him feeding on her. And then reviving her with his blood. What sick fuck feeds a shifter blood unless…unless….
Fuck. I know what the vampires are trying to do.
Shifters. That's why they're using shifters. They're-fuck, they're using slavers to supply them. The shifter slavers-they're not snatching dominants. They're snatching weak ones.
All to make a vampire army. Do you know hard it is to make a vampire? So hard, too hard. Too long a process-unless your victim is stronger.
They want to create more vampires. Faster. Stronger. Better. With an army they can overthrow Frangelico.
It all falls into place. And Jordy, Jordy is the key.
I've got to save her.
Jordy
I STAND NAKED on the carpet of the large bedroom. Augustine paces around me. I haven't said anything since he grabbed me in front of the trailer and shoved me into the trunk of a car. I expected him to take me to the club or back into the green room, but not here.
"Welcome home," he said as he dragged me up the walk to the house where he kept me. I bite my tongue to keep from correcting him. This was never my true home.
"Jordy," he croons now, running a finger along the back of my neck. His nail cuts me but I don't flinch. "You've been a bad slave."
I'm not your slave. I don't belong to you anymore.
"What a merry little chase you and your teddy bear led me on. I must say, I'm almost impressed."
I say nothing. My fists clench against my legs. I will not bow. I will not shiver, or break. I will not give this vampire the satisfaction.
Because he was never my master. He was a poser, a user, and he took from me what wasn't his. I never truly belonged to him.
Just a few minutes longer. Hold out until-
"Did you think you could hide forever? Did you think he'd protect you?"
"He did protect me-" I say and my head snaps to the side with Augustine's slap, a blow I expected but never saw coming. My cheek goes numb.
"He left you," the vampire sneers. "And now you're back here. Alone. Unarmed. Pitiful. Nothing more pathetic than an unowned slave."
I'm not unowned. My love may not want me, but I chose him. I wear his mark on my heart.
Oh Grizz, I wish I could see you. One last time.
My former vampire master circles me. "Kneel."
"No. I don't kneel for you."
"You belong to me."
"I don't. Not any more." And I smile. His hold over me is broken. I don't submit to anyone. Submission is a choice, and I don't choose anyone but Grizz.
"Who did she tell?"
I come face to face with my nightmare. The one eyed vampire.
For the first time in my life, I look the vampires in the eye. I'm going to die, anyway. Might as well stand up for myself.
"She won't tell me," Augustine grits out.
"So we make her," the one-eyed vampire says, and for a moment things fade away.
I come to with Augustine slapping my face.
"It's no use. She knows nothing, and we're running out of time."
The one-eyed vampire's voice fills my head, a nightmare come to life. "Then we make sure she doesn't talk again."
And then: pain. So much pain.