Barely Alive (4 page)

I missed the feel of her silky skin in my hands – combine that with her scent, taste – nope, I hadn’t forgotten – and her spunk and I’d never touched another creature like her. “Okay. I can give you that.” But she’d gotten under my skin. Crap. I’d try to watch out for her as long as I could.

She yanked her hands from mine and joined the group but hung at the edge of the cluster, head down.

“
Let’s try this again. Yes, there are more of you than me, but there are more of
us
out there.” I nodded my head toward the yard. The boys shuffled around, itching for something they couldn’t scratch with any of the food in the buffet. They’d brushed against satisfying their cravings with the bodies they’d left in the alley, but a taste-tease didn’t do more than a lap dance would do for a celibate. A truck hadn’t delivered meat. One more promise Dominic failed to deliver on.

They were hungry and the only fresh meat stood just inside the door, silhouetted in the light. The girls didn’t realize what kind of a spot they were in. Fourteen young men with immediate needs waited for them outside while another waited for them inside. Both groups wanted to devour them, but only one would make certain they made it to the next step.

I pointed to the locker-style bathroom door just off the kitchen. “Come on, ladies. Let’s get this going.”

The desperation for escape overcame a blonde on the external edge of the huddle. I heard more than saw her footsteps racing from the doorway. Pat, pat, pat, pat.

The motion lights popped on.

Pat, pat, pat.

A growl.

She screamed. A thud.

The other girls screamed, but covered their mouths, eyes wide, unable to turn away. The screaming continued mixed with smacking noises and growls. More snarls joined in.

I closed my eyes. Damn it. When I opened them the girls had moved into the room, close enough to brush arms against my shirt sleeve. Heather reached out and pulled the door shut, keeping her gaze from the now-silent scene feet from the opening.

A moment for them to collect themselves would hurt more than one would think. Giving prey time to consider their options was never a smart move.

I ushered them into the bathroom, herding them from behind. We had to pass through the showers to get to the front changing area packed with lockers and benches. Another door waited, leading to the yard out front. I locked the one to the kitchen behind me. I didn’t want to watch two exits when I had to watch six girls desperate for their lives.

“
You’re going to drop your clothes and toss them over here. I’ll dispose of them. You’ll each get two towels – one for your hair and one for your bodies. After you’re clean and dry, new outfits can be found in the closet here.” I opened the walk-in closet door and flipped on the light. The amount of clothing was unreal. This was my first time seeing girls at the compound. I only knew where the items were because my curiosity seemed to increase with my metabolism. When I’d found the clothing on one search, I’d been confused, but had moved on.

Half-walls separated the benches over tile flooring from the shower area.

I leaned on the wall closest to the door and waited. Yep, I’d been reduced to voyeurism. On human girls. That I couldn’t and really didn’t want to eat. But what I wanted and my body craved were two different things. Good for them I had more control than the idiots we’d left outside.

Dominic would be pissed. Or he wouldn’t. I still had to offer up one more like that. But he liked privacy and the kill happening outside the walls of the warehouse would irritate him more than the actual death or how it happened. He had a “Big-Brother-is-spying-on-me” complex.

“
Can you look somewhere else?” Heather hadn’t been put far enough in her place. She’d moved between me and the group, blocking them with her body.

I didn’t care about seeing them, anyway. On the flip side, I’d love to see what was under her clothing, see if she looked as good as she tasted. “I can watch
you
, if you’d like. Or did you have a different suggestion?”

She crossed her arms, serious annoyance in her set lips. “There’s a TV. Turn that on.”

Ooh, she had energy. I gave her the benefit of the moment and turned from the group to the TV propped in the corner of the room above the door. The remote hid in the junction between the half wall and the main wall.

Twenty-four hour news would be the only thing on that late in the night.
Boring.
I needed my focus free for my job anyway.

A pallid-faced man, bags heavy under his eyes, stared balefully at the camera. His mouth moved as if independent of his head. A second later the sound followed and matched his lips.

A pair of shorts fell beside me. Naked girls feet from me. Holy crap.

Saliva filled my mouth. Dominic couldn’t have thought anything through, sending me in with the girls without feeding me.
The news. Focus on the news.

“
The mob-like gang has increased their hits in the last few weeks. More victims fill the hospitals each night. Some do not make it out alive after being bitten and mauled so ferociously.” He had my attention. Bitten? More and more victims. I hadn’t been out on a hunt in a couple days, but they had more every night?

“
Tonight five girls were attacked north of the university. Seven are still unaccounted for. None of them have regained consciousness yet, but their injuries are related to sexual assault and cannibalism. The police have set to rest rumors about a rabid animal loose in the city by replacing it with the report that the teeth marks in the girls’ bodies are definitely human.

“
In Henderson, an hour following the attacks by UNLV, a group of men leaving a church social were attacked and left for dead. Two survived and are recovering in the Sienna Hospital. Most attacks happen at night. The authorities are requesting that everyone stay inside after the sun goes down.”

The camera zoomed in. “In other news, the list of missing people is rising in the Las Vegas area…”

I tuned out.
Of course the number was rising, idiot.
But the boys and I hadn’t been in Henderson. We got the girls and came straight back to the warehouse.

A shirt hit my arm.

I glanced toward the girls. Heather’s back was to me. The dark red crescent I’d left on her back stark in the pale skin. A distinct tan line showed the lines of her swimsuit and the tops she wore. I tried, I really did, but I couldn’t help my gaze from straying to her rear.

Son of a —

She turned and bit out. “Find what you’re looking for?”

I snapped my eyes up above her head. But I saw her chest in silhouette. Yikes. She didn’t even look embarrassed. Although with a body shaped like hers, she had no reason to be.

Too much ran through my mind. The overload on my senses acted like dynamite. I felt like I was going to explode.

I needed to tell Dominic about the news report. He never watched anything besides conspiracy theories and political debates, so the chance he’d heard the information was slim.

My only escape was out through the yard. “I’m going to lock the door to protect you from the men outside.” I forced my voice to carry over the water spraying in the cavernous room, but avoided looking at any of them. “I’ll knock three times when I come back. Let me in.” Outside the door, I let the coolness of the predawn sweep over me – if ninety degrees could be considered cool.

Heather’s curves were going to haunt me for quite a while.

Chapter 4

Thankfully Dominic stood inside the kitchen door, a donut in hand. He nodded his head when I walked in. “Paul. You get me those girls?”

“
Working on it. Worked out one, but the last six are pretty hot. You might think about keeping them.” I’d score points with Heather, if I could say I tried. Not that the points mattered. She was a stupid human and, oh hell, I’d work on convincing myself to be uninterested later. “Dominic, we have a problem.” I tucked my hands into my pockets. “On the news they’re reporting more attacks than we’re doing.”

I missed the sun’s heat. My fingers tingled with the cold. Ridiculous as it sounded, I was cold with my high metabolism and no food. Like a snake. Except I didn’t feel like a snake. “Do you have a different group going out at the same time we are? I haven’t seen anyone else here.”

He swallowed the bite in his mouth and faced me, irritation tightening the skin around his eyes. My sight was sharper than it’d ever been. The fine lines around his lids were as clear as the lines of his shirt. Dominic licked his fingers. I shifted.

“
I don’t understand, Paul. Why are attacks being reported? Didn’t we discuss not harming anyone? I don’t give you orders for the hell of it. Harming people brings unwanted attention our way. When I say don’t harm anyone, I mean it.” He matched me with hands in his pockets, his shoulders straight and his chin jutted out.

I swallowed. He didn’t know about the attacks with Tom on previous outings. He’d only been told what was necessary. But if I didn’t want to get my butt handed to me downstairs, I’d report what I knew. He had the upper hand and I knew it. He knew I knew it. My nature to buck authority and do what I wanted reared its head but I stifled it under fear of painful consequences.

“
Yes, sir. Um.” I inhaled slowly. What was I supposed to say… the words just fell from my mouth without order or comprehensive timing. “I don’t know how long it’s been going on. Tom told me how it worked. If you asked for three guys, the group looked for six.” I swallowed. I hated that he had the power to fill me with fear. “Apparently they started doing that because they don’t always get fed when you promise. So preservation… and all… that.” I wanted to look away from his icy stare. But the part of me that didn’t accept bullying at school held my gaze steady. Even my hands didn’t shake which was odd since they did that when I was hungry and I’m always hungry.

He leaned close, the sugar sweet of his breath nauseating as he talked around a bite of donut. “Are you telling me you idiots have been biting people all this time? Without being under supervision? Holy hell. What in the —” A gargled choking sound cut off his tirade. His face tightened and turned red. Dominic clutched at his neck.

The bastard was trying to breathe around the lodged donut in his throat and was clearly choking. Did I thump him or give him the Heimlich? A purplish hue replaced the red of his skin. Without thinking, I reached around and pounded his back. He coughed up the food and gasped for breath.

What had I done? He could’ve died. I could’ve been free. He was only good for information and he had to keep journals of his research. The man was nothing if not meticulous in his documentation. My mistake would haunt me, I had no doubt.

His bright red face faded to pale peach. His breathing stabilized and he looked at me with eyes full of anger. Behind the asshole in his eyes lurked fear, true unchallenged fear. Anxiety ripped into my stomach, twisting it with cramps stronger than hunger pangs. If Dominic was afraid of something, the situation was worse than I could imagine.

His voice dropped to a whisper. “How many girls did you leave?”

“
We left five. The guys just attacked the sixth one out in the yard. The remaining six are in the showers.” He’d get my full cooperation. Whatever scared him was freaking the hell out of me – and I didn’t even know what it was.

He rushed to the door and pressed his fingers to his lips, releasing a piercing whistle that cut through the night. He looked to the left and right of the door. “Boys, now!”

In seconds Dominic was surrounded by blood-stained men, wary from his call. “Listen to me, where is the girl’s body?”

I pointed over my shoulder. “I just walked by it.” Wait… Had I? “I think.”

John lifted his head to look past Dominic’s shoulder. Confusion crimped his cheek. “She was right there.” He pointed toward the side of the wall.

Screams rent the air.

Heather!

Dominic grabbed John’s arm. “Was she dead?” John’s eyes rolled and Dominic shook him. “Dammit! Was she dead or did you leave her alive?”

I didn’t care about the dead girl. Without real reason, worry flooded through me. Heather wasn’t very big. She’d never stand a chance.

John gripped Dominic’s pressure-whitened fingers. “Dead. She wasn’t breathing and I think Steve bit part of her heart. I don’t know. I didn’t take anatomy.”

“
You dumbasses. What the hell is wrong with you?” Dominic pushed John from him and threw his glare at the group as a whole. “You have no idea what you’ve done. I have to change them. Me. Not you. You have no idea what you’re doing. I say don’t touch them for a damn reason.” He rushed through the door and called over his shoulder. “Paul, grab the rope, gasoline and matches and have those idiots wait here.”

I pointed at John and Steve and two others and broke into a run. “You heard him. Make sure no one goes anywhere.” The gas was outside the front door, a pile of rope next to it. Dominic had an unreal supply of fuel. I fingered the box of stick matches I carried from building a fire the morning before. I didn’t quite understand what was going on –
we were contagious? Hell, I’d bit Heather!