Bitten Surrender (9 page)

However, what he heard was pain. Turning, Hanzi ran the distance before his brain caught up with his instincts. Unfortunately he knew what he was going to see, and it would be another dead woman, eyes lifeless, story cut off too short.

Hanzi pushed his pain further away. There was no room for empathy, no time for fear. Jerome would find Adrienne. He’d let him know soon she was safe because there was no other outcome Hanzi would accept.

Feri grabbed Ambrus, whose eyes had gone completely red. His fangs were visible in his mouth. His old friend had lost all control of his monster inside, and Hanzi couldn’t blame him. Still, it was his job to look at the victim.

Much the same as Feri’s woman, Ambrus’ mate lay with her eyes open, unseeing, yet unlike Feri’s, she was not on the couch, rather she’d been thrown on the bed. Any doubt Hanzi held about Feri playing a role in his woman’s death fled. They wouldn’t have both lost their minds.

Hanzi touched the side of the woman’s throat. It had been torn into, not the gentle bite of a lover who would never do her harm. Her death was a big problem. It meant they were dealing with a crazed vampire who would dare to put his mouth on the throat of a claimed woman. Hanzi had hunted vampires who lived in nothing except darkness before. He was good at it. Although he would have preferred not to have to undertake a hunt while he figured out his relationship with Adrienne.

He turned to look at Ambrus whose eyes were huge.

“Do you think four feedings were enough? To change her? Will she come back?”

Out of the three of them, Ambrus stood the shortest. At barely six feet tall, he had broad shoulders and a scar that ran the length of his cheek from his eyes to his mouth. The man had the mark before he’d been changed, from some encounter in a dark street he’d barely survived.

Hanzi hadn’t crossed paths with him in over a thousand years. Unlike Feri, Hanzi didn’t have much to do with Ambrus. Their lack of contact, however, didn’t mean Hanzi wouldn’t move heaven and earth to help him. They were all bound to each other’s destinies.

“I don’t know how many feedings are required. I will admit to not having turned a human in a very long time. If I recall, it sort of depended on the human. Some turned very quickly, some took longer, and some of them died altogether no matter how much blood exchange they made.” He turned to stare out the window at the dark night he knew he would soon be visiting. His prey always ran, and he would chase. It was the way of things. “Let us presume fate did not give us women who will not survive the change. The answer has to remain the same. I don’t know if it’s enough. We were supposed to be here with them for weeks. Many more blood takings would likely have occurred before she became a member of our kind. Is four enough? Three in Feri’s case? I have no earthly idea.”

“You always speak the truth, Hanzi.” Ambrus’ gruff voice resounded through the room. “I’ve never wanted to kill you for it before.”

“You’re welcome to try.” Hanzi turned back to face the other two vampires. “I must tell you the time you spend ineffectually trying to take my life is minutes I could be looking for the creature who harmed the woman who belonged to you. Stay here with her. If she is not awake in twenty-four hours, she is not coming back. Feri, go back to your woman. You have the same instructions. I will go check on mine.” Jerome was taking way too long and he wanted to rip out his throat for not reporting back to him sooner. “When I know she is fine I will go find the one who hurt yours.”

Feri nodded. “If you need any help, do let us know.”

“I never have. Not since you all decided hunting those who break the rules was a job that should belong to me. I’m not sure what you would contribute except be in my way.”

He turned from them and stormed from the room. Adrienne had been fine when he left her. She would still be well. No way another vampire had gotten past all three of them while they investigated. A crazed vampire would still know better than to attack a woman who belonged to a hunter.

If three or four blood changes might not be enough to save their women, what would happen to Adrienne? He had only fed on her once. As far as he recalled, no human had ever come back after such a small amount.

Before he knew it, he was running. The lights above his head flickered. What the hell? The castle worked on a generator and a backup system. He’d been involved in the design way back when and approved the new plans when they’d been updated several years ago. They shouldn’t be having any power issues.

He skidded to a stop. Lying on his back next to the side of the wall lay Jerome. His eyes were closed, his throat sliced, and blood dripped a slow rivulet onto his chest. Hanzi bent over and ignored the call of the crimson to focus on his friend. Taking from Adrienne had satisfied him well. He’d likely not need to feed again anytime soon.

Hanzi breathed, and his pulse stayed steady. The poor man had had so many life-threatening injuries from vampires during his extra-long life and yet he survived. As always, Hanzi’s heart turned over when he thought of what Jerome endured. The sheer pain the other man had to recover from over and over.

Jerome’s eyes flew open. He tried to speak but a gurgling sound came out instead. Hanzi ripped off part of his own coat sleeve and pressed it on Jerome’s throat. “Hold pressure there. Don’t try to speak.”

“Didn’t. Get. To. Her.”

It took Hanzi less than half a second to understand him, and then, as the other times in his existence when he gave over to the beast, the room turned to a red hue. Hanzi saw everything clearly with a pulsating madness driving him forward.

If he found her dead, the world would pay for taunting him with her goodness and taking her away. He doubted there was a vampire who could stop him, and many had given it a go. He’d enjoy the blood of such a fight.

His fangs elongated, and he rushed toward his rooms. The lights flickered again. No matter, in his current state he didn’t need light to see.

That was when he heard her scream. He stopped his race to their rooms and followed the sound instead. Adrienne was alive. She would remain living. Whoever was frightening her wouldn’t see another sunset.

He moved faster than a human; his superior speed and strength were part of the curse the witch had forced on them. Still, it felt as though he couldn’t run quickly enough. Adrienne needed him.

A
drienne stumbled into the grass. Why she thought she would be safer outside was beyond her, but it had seemed the thing to do when she’d been running inside the castle. Too much open space to hide from whatever had pursued her. Inside someone would hear her if she screamed. Outside she was in the middle of nowhere.

The perfect place to make Adrienne stew for whoever wanted to eat her.

Face planted in the grass, she made a quick decision. If she was going to die, she had to see who—or what—wanted her. In doing so, should she die and come back a ghost—hell, with the way things were unfolding, haunting seemed downright plausible—she would know who to come back and torment.

She rolled over. Her hands shook as she stared back at the vampire looming over her in the darkness. Only the moon allowed her to see him and lucky—or maybe the opposite—for her it was full and bright.

In all her years with vampires, she had never seen one in a true rage before. They stayed calm, aloof, which all made sense now since she understood they were being monitored by Hanzi and the other royals. The man in front of her, fangs elongated, eyes blood red, hands out in front of him as if he was ready to strike, hardly looked human.

He lunged at her and then stopped. “Flicka?”

She shook so hard she could hardly hear him over the rattling of her own bones. Everything she’d done to avoid being wed to a vampire....why hadn’t she learned how to kill one?

“Flicka was my aunt. She’s wed to a vampire. Do you know her?” Maybe if she kept him talking all would be well. The longer they spoke, the better. “She’s wed to a vampire. I never met her. Well, if I did I don’t remember. She went off before I was old enough to remember.”

“Don’t lie to me.” The vampire approached her, his neck cocked to the side. “Why would you hide from me, my beloved? All the years I’ve thought you dead. And you’ve been here? Alive? Why do you smell of another vampire?”

“Um.” She held her hands out in front of her as she scooted backward. Crazy guy wasn’t only a rabid vampire, he was a delusional one. He thought she was Flicka?

“So you knew my Aunt?” She continued on the same path, although part of her wondered if it would be better for to actually pretend to be Flicka. The whole Ghostbusters thing.
Ray, when someone asks you if you're a god, you say "YES"!
But it was too late. Her mind wasn’t processing things correctly.

Fear made her clumsy, stupid. Hanzi had called himself a predator. She couldn’t think of him in those terms way yet. But the creature in front of her...yes, predator fit him nicely.

“The vampire hunters took you from me. Why didn’t you tell me you still lived? I have killed everywhere I went. Hundreds of bodies, and it’s your fault, Flicka, for not telling me.”

The thing wasn’t hearing her, and his state of denial skyrocketed her anxiety further. She might not be able to move at all in a second.

“I don’t think my aunt would have liked you killing in her name.” She pulled herself to her feet. If she was going to die, it wasn’t going to be cowering on the ground. “I don’t think the royals would approve of it. There are rules.”

“You are my wife. Why would you hide from me? Let me think you were dead?” Tears streamed the length of his face while his eyes glowed red. She knew little about vampire rages, but if his eyes were red,it was a good bet he’d gotten really mad.

“Listen, I’m not Flicka. I’m sorry she’s dead. You telling me is the first I’m hearing of it. My family didn’t know. I’m her niece. No one has told me I look anything like her. So I think you’re confused and....”

He leapt at her, slamming her back into the ground. The wind left her lungs, and her body went numb, which was a good thing considering what happened next. As she lay stunned, unable to simply roll to the side, the monster in front of her bit hard on the side of her neck. She didn’t feel it at first, the shock of her back hitting the ground still overtaking her. However she felt it after a minute or so. He sucked hard. His assault wasn’t anything like Hanzi’s sweet bite.

When the pain came, it was hard and sharp. She wasn’t an expert on all things deadly except the sheer amount of liquid she heard going into his throat told her he wasn’t drinking sparingly. With Hanzi having fed on her earlier, she wasn’t certain she had any blood to spare. She tried to struggle, but it was futile with his weight pinning her to the ground.

Adrienne had always wondered how she would feel when she realized she was dying. For the last ten years, she’d assumed it would be whatever vampire she had been destined to marry who would do the deed, against her will. Instead, she’d ended up finding a vampire who respected her wishes even when she changed her mind. He’d been kind. Lost. Hers.

Yes, Hanzi had been gifted to her by fate. She hadn’t understood it before, yet now as she lay dying, she certainly did. Sometimes a destiny was a good thing, an unexpected gift. She wished she hadn’t run from it. A little acceptance would have given her twenty-four more hours with Hanzi.

It wasn’t long before everything blurred. She heard a roar somewhere in the background, and before she figured out what it was, the vampire on top of her was ripped from her body. There were loud growls and tears. She had not the energy to raise her head to look at what had happened nor to feel one way or another about the sudden removal of the vampire who had killed her.

Her eyes drifted closed. She had asked Hanzi if it would hurt to die. He hadn’t answered her. In truth, Adrienne couldn’t actually feel a thing. A death of sheer numbness. What a strange way to end her life.

****

H
anzi tore the vampire’s head from his neck. It wasn’t hard. A second later, he produced the matches and liquid accelerant he always kept on his person at all times. Small vials contained potent fire starts. Years of practice had taught him to end life quickly. Most of the time he at least knew the creature’s name and story. The man, still a stranger, had killed two human women that night and put his hands on Hanzi’s Adrienne. He didn’t deserve to live long enough to explain himself.

Hanzi forced the redness from his gaze and the anger from his body. He couldn’t approach Adrienne in his current state.

His hands were shaking, so he waited until he had tempered himself enough to not need to kill or feed. Then he moved to her. She was still. How badly had the male harmed her?

“Adrienne.” He dropped to his knees before he pulled her into his arms. Her neck flopped to the side, her eyes staring upwards in the same way as the other women he had seen earlier in the castle. He gasped and nearly dropped her.

“No.” He uttered the word softly at first, but before long he was shouting the word, over and over again. Hanzi had been too late to reach her in time to protect her, yet the other vampire hadn’t sucked on her long enough to turn her. Why was death happening? She shouldn’t be leaving him. Adrienne couldn’t depart the earth. Not yet. Not when he’d found her so recently. He had things to tell her. Confessions to make. He’d started to believe he might be able to make her happy.

No. No. No. No. No. No. No
.

“Hanzi.” Jerome shoved him away from Adrienne. “Let me look. Let me see.”

What was there to see? Hanzi rose to his feet. Adrienne was dead. He had hardly known her. For years he’d denied wanting her. What was he to do with a bride? He wasn’t fit for company. Yet, after being with her for a single complete day, he didn’t know how life would ever have gone on without her.

Of course this had happened. Goodness didn’t come to him. He should have known. Anything he touched died. Death was his gift. It had been since the moment he arose from the dead. He was the grim reaper. There would never be light to his life.