Blood Lily (Lilith Adams Vampire Series Book 1) (41 page)

             
“You need to calm down, Lily.” Chance had regained his strength and his voice was definitely hard as iron.

             
“No I really don’t. I have every right to be completely freaked out right now. We both should be freaked out right now. Gregor and Alvarez aren’t out here and they aren’t answering their phones. Their either burned up in that damn monstrosity of a hotel or Ashcroft has his sadistic talons on them.” Lilith spun around staring Chance down. “Why are you being so fucking calm right now? Don’t you care?”

             
“Freaking out isn’t going to save them, Lily. If they are dead, they’re dead and all we can do is not join them.”

             
Chance caught her wrist just before her open hand connected with his face. Lilith struck out with her other hand, tears stinging her eyes. “How can you even fucking say that?!” He just held her arms while she struggled, waiting for the fight to go out of her. When she finally fell against him in a fit of tears, he scooped her up and carried her away from all the chaos.

             
Chance found a quiet alley one block over and ducked down it. When he reached the end, he set Lilith on her feet. She wiped the tears from her eyes and looked up into Chance’s stern, handsome face. “You’re losing it, Lily. You can’t flip out like that in public!” There was something deeper, she could hear it in his voice, see it on his face.

             
“Chance…”

             
“No.” His face snapped into painful rage and he leaned in, inches from her. “You have no right to tell me I don’t care! I’m not a soulless monster just because I choose not to lose my shit in front of hundreds of humans! Don’t scream at me that I don’t care just because you can’t deal.” Chance punched the wall with a guttural growl and Lilith flinched.

             
“Feel better?” She was angry. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew she wasn’t really angry at him, but she couldn’t stop. “Go on. Break your hand on concrete and see if that helps things any. I’m sure Ashcroft will back off when he sees you’re injured.”

             
Chance gripped her shoulders and glared at her with clenched teeth. “Stop pushing me, Lilith. You aren’t gonna take all your anger out on me just cause I’m fucking convenient!”

             
Lilith’s heart was pounding in her chest as she panted for breath. Their eyes locked in a turbulent showdown and the seconds seemed to stretch into minutes. She felt a swell of anger and her hand rose to slap him, but he caught her wrist again and pinned it to the wall. He leaned in even closer, but the anger was leaking out of his face. “Stop trying to hit me, Lilith. It’s not going to make you feel any better.”

             
His eyes left hers for a fraction of a second, glancing down at her lips and she could feel the intense desire roar through her body. She couldn’t tell how much was hers and how much was his. She didn’t really care.

             
Lilith leaned into him, her lips crushing against his. For a moment, the heated kiss seemed to freeze time. Neither of them moved or even breathed. Then suddenly, Chance dropped her wrist. One hand slid up her neck and the other around her wrist, both of them tugging her closer. Lilith sank her hands into his hair, her fingers tightening as she kissed him hungrily. Chance growled into the kiss and pushed her back against the wall. There was no hesitation in him this time, just raw, powerful need.

             
His strong hands slid down to her hips, picking her up as she wrapped her legs around him. Chance’s lips moved down her neck, his teeth lightly grating against the tender skin, drawing a soft moan out of her. Lilith’s entire body vibrated with energetic passion, making her head spin and her skin burn. Her fingers clutched his shoulders, holding on to him like he was the only sane thing left in the world.              

             
Chance leaned his forehead against hers, panting for breath, and for one terrified moment Lilith thought he was going to put on the brakes again. His eyes were closed, as if steeling himself. No. “I need you, Lily.” The tone in his voice was raw and powerful. It stole her breath, making her chest tight. Before she could say or do anything, Chance’s lips brushed against hers in a nudging kiss as his hands rubbed against her hips. The growing warmth trickling down her spine completely disrupted her thoughts.

             
Chance broke the kiss, his eyes finding hers, and all the insecurities, the indecisiveness was gone. His eyes burned with a confidence she’d never seen before. There were no questions, no second guesses. He knew exactly what he wanted and it made her heart race, the blood pounding in her ears. The moment exploded into a deep passionate kiss, his tongue gliding along hers. Their hands tugged impatiently at their clothes, each of them desperate to feel skin against skin. When his warm hands slid up her stomach and under her ivory lace bra, they felt electric.

             
Everything blurred into an intense moment of groping hands, grazing teeth, thrusting bodies and passionate moans. Her nails dug into his back, trying desperately to hold on as the most insane waves of pleasure wracked her body while Chance growled against her neck. His hands gripped her against him with bruising strength. After one last, powerful thrust they were both left clinging to each other, glistening with sweat and gasping for breath.

             
Chance just leaned his forehead against hers with his eyes closed, panting softly. Lilith was still trying to make her body stop quivering. Her skin tingled and crackled with energy. She’d never felt so completely alive. Distantly somewhere in her brain, she knew it had to do with Cohen’s blood, but it was the farthest thing from her mind. Neither of them spoke. Lilith didn’t think she could form words anyway. Besides, she didn’t want to break the magic of the moment. She was trying as hard as she could not to think about the usual awkward moments after having sex with someone for the first time. It always changed everything. A tiny bubble of panic started to tighten her chest.

             
As if he could read her mind, his hand slid slowly up her neck, his fingers delving into her auburn curls, and kissed her tenderly. Chance brushed the matted hair from her face, staring into her eyes with a slow, impish smile. It felt so completely natural that it eased away all her panic. She nuzzled a kiss against his neck and relaxed into his arms.

             
“Not that this is my favorite suggestion ever, but…” The sound of his voice almost startled her. “…we may want to put some clothes back on.”

             
That’s when reality came crashing in. They were mostly naked in a dark alley with cops and fire trucks still passing by at regular intervals. Under any other circumstances she might have been mortified, but after the past few days and the fact that Chance was still pinning her to the wall, all she could do was laugh. He frowned at her for an instant and then grinned like a Cheshire cat.

             
“Like I said, it’s not my favorite suggestion.”

             
“And what would be your favorite suggestion?” She quirked an eyebrow as a slow smile curled her lips. Before Chance could say anything, Lilith nudged her lips feather-soft against his, pulling a languid growl from him. His hands tightened around her and that heated rush flushed her body again.

             
Just then Lilith’s phone rang, completely breaking the moment like a shower of ice water. “Shit. Cohen.” She looked up at Chance and his smile faltered.

             
Chance zipped up the front of her track suit and kissed her softly before putting her on her somewhat unsteady feet. “You should get that. He may have found something.” His voice was steady and even. For a moment her mind raced in a panicked mess, running through all the possible reasons for that tone. She pushed them all aside. There wasn’t time.

             
Lilith shimmied back into her pants and dug her phone out of her pocket. There were a dozen text messages and a missed call, all from Cohen. Crap. She watched Chance’s back as he buttoned his low slung jeans and she dialed Cohen’s number. The phone was still ringing when Chance turned around. There it was, just below his navel. The tattoo of a beautiful, white lily with a curling scroll bearing her name just below it. Chance caught her looking, followed her eyes to the tattoo, and when his eyes met hers again they were filled with a vulnerable confidence that laid all her panicked thoughts to rest.

             
When Cohen finally answered, his voice startled her and she almost dropped the phone. “Where the hell are you two?”

             
Thankfully you can’t really hear a grin over the phone. “Did you find something?”

             
“I’ve been trying to reach you for half an hour? What the hell is going on? Are you two in danger?”

             
Chance tugged on his shirt, his hazel eyes watching her with a languid desire that made her want to hole up with him in a hotel room for a week. Damn he was distracting. “Uh… no. We’re okay. We didn’t find anything except a bunch of scared and hurt people.” Lilith squeezed her eyes closed for a moment, trying desperately to focus. “We’ll meet you at the car and figure out our next move.” She was just about to hang up when Cohen’s voice stopped her.

             
“Well move your asses. Whitmore called a little over half an hour ago. The men he posted at the Industrial Park outside of the old nuclear plant site radioed in. Suspicious activity. Whitmore and Humphries are already on their way. We could have all gone together, but someone was too damn busy to answer their phone.”

             
That sobered her up instantly. “Sorry. We’ll be right there.”

             
“Whitmore and Humphries are heading to Phipps Bend. We need to meet Cohen so we can catch up.” Lilith leaned back against the wall with a heavy sigh. Some part of her felt guilty for not staying focused on trying to find her father, but she’d lost it. Chance was right. She was freaking out. As distracted as she might be by Chance, she wasn’t having panic attacks and running towards fires. In fact, she felt better than she ever had. She felt powerful, strong, in control. It was the first time since she got out of the cab at the Italian joint in New York City. Everything just seemed clearer.

             
Chance tensed and stared at her for a moment. “The lion’s den?” He nodded resolutely, but she could see the fear plain on his face. He wasn’t scared for himself. He was scared that he might not be enough to protect her. Chance lowered his eyes to the pavement and tentatively took her hand. Very slowly, he raised his eyes to hers. He needed to say something, but he was dreading it. After a final sigh, he bit the bullet. “You realize that if Cohen didn’t find Gregor and Alvarez, then it means Ashcroft has them.”

             
It was a truth she didn’t want to face. “They could have gotten away. Maybe they were trapped inside and finally found a way out.”

             
Chance cradled her face and stooped to look her straight in the eye. “Lily, Ashcroft went through a lot of trouble to set that fire. We both know what the man is truly capable of. He’s not about to let them burn in a fire, especially not Gregor. That wouldn’t be enough revenge for him.”

             
“Why are we even talking about this?” She was breathing a little faster, losing a little of the calm clarity he’d given her.

             
“I just think we should be prepared. They may not be in good shape.”

             
“Let’s just get moving. We need to get to Cohen’s car. We can do all the worst case scenarios in the car on the way there although I had my heart set on a game of I spy. ” Typically her snappy temper earned her a hurt look or a snappy comeback, but this time he simply kissed her quick and tugged her towards the scene. Perhaps he finally realized that not all of her agitations were about him, that she was just scared and anxious for her father.

             
“It’s at least an hour and a half away, I’m sure we’ll have time for both.” His Cheshire grin brought flashes of just how delicious his mouth and everything else was. Her skin flushed as a shiver ran down her spine. For a moment, she just reveled in the internal playback, completely forgetting that they were moments away from rushing into the home turf of an impossibly powerful man that had slowly been assassinating her family for over 600 years.

Chapter 21

C
ohen didn’t say much of anything when they finally reached the car. The uneasy silence continued for most of the drive. He’d lost all his calm composure. Apparently, he either cared about his partner more than he claimed or there was something else going on. Either way, he wasn’t talking about it. Cohen just stared straight ahead, jaw clenched, arms locked straight, hands white knuckling the steering wheel and his lead foot attacking the gas pedal. If he hadn’t had the foresight to put the flashing siren on the roof of his car, she was certain they’d be on the side of the road trying to explain to some state trooper why they were rocketing down the interstate at almost five in the morning.

She could just picture that conversation. “I’m sorry, Officer, but we have to get to an
abandoned, half-finished, nuclear plant before a 600 year old monster slices up my dad, this cop’s partner, and a whole bunch of other people. If it helps, the guy set an entire hotel on fire earlier this morning and butchered a scientist in a secret lab after we blew half his head off. Oh yeah, and he’s also a vampire slash incubus.” Can anyone say white padded cell?

Lilith was grateful for the relative safety of the backseat. Chance had gallantly volunteered to take shotgun. The air was thick with an odd tension.
It was like sitting in a car with your dad when he’s picked you up after sneaking out, or maybe like a bomb tech trying to diffuse a ton of plastic explosives. Actually, now that she thought about it, those two scenarios weren’t all that different. She had never been the type to sneak out, but she could always ask Gloria and Alvarez about their daughter, Erica.

Her face fell when the thought crossed her mind. Alvarez. She leaned forward, her elbows on her knees, and rubbed at her face. If anything happened to Alvarez,
Gloria would never forgive her. They’d been together so long. They’d accomplished for hundreds of years what humans couldn’t handle for more than fifteen years, a happy, healthy, loving marriage. The thought of facing Gloria and telling her that the man she’d loved for centuries, her husband, father of her beautiful daughters, was never coming home… Lilith had to get Alvarez home to his family, safe and alive. There just really wasn’t any other option.

This was precisely why Lilith hated silence. With nothing to distract her, her mind roved in a million different directions at the speed of sound.
It was nothing but a thick, convoluted web of tangents that didn’t actually help her figure out what they were going to do when they got to Phipps Bend. Worrying about the look on Gloria’s face, the ferocity of her Spanish rage, the tears of her daughters if she didn’t bring Alvarez home alive, none of that was gonna help her figure out a way to make sure Ashcroft stayed dead.

She still had Gregor and Duncan to worry about, not to mention keeping herself, Chance, Cohen, Whitmore and Humphries alive. She silently chuckled to herself. In what universe should she actually have to worry about three cops, one professional bodyguard and three other strong individuals taking down one old man? It would actually be hilarious if it wasn’t so damn terrifying.

Cohen flipped the siren off as they hit the exit ramp at seventy miles per hour.  It was enough to shake her from her thoughts. “We’re meeting Whitmore and Humphries a half mile from the target building.” His tone was overly assertive. It made sense. His partner had at least a half hour head start on them. Hopefully, they were still waiting in the car and not rushing into the building, trying to be heroes.

Still, his reaction just seemed overly intense for what she knew about him and his partner.
Granted, Whitmore wasn’t her favorite person, but she was all too aware of how people formed deep bonds when working closely on a daily bases. However, that usually takes years and according to Coffee, Cohen only moved here a few months ago.

“How is this going to play out?” Lilith snatched at the back of Chance’s seat with a white-knuckled grip to keep from flying across the car as Cohen took a corner like they were chasing a terrorist with a dirty bomb.

“What are you talking about, Adams?” The southern accent was back and chocked full of animosity.

“First off, I’m not a damn cop. It’s Lilith, not Adams. Secondly, how are we going to handle Whitmore and
Humphries? They’re humans, completely oblivious to what’s really going on, the real dangers. They’re lambs for the slaughter.”

“Don’t you think I know that?!” Cohen slammed his hands against the steering wheel and she saw Chance tense out of the corner of her eye. Cohen ran a shaky hand
through his short blonde hair and sighed.

“I’ve been trying to figure that out the entire drive.
Whitmore has already called in the FBI. They’ll be here in about 12 hours. He isn’t gonna just walk away. I don’t see us having any choice but to bring him with us and pray for the best. We should split into two groups, help minimize the exposure. Whitmore will stay with me. I can help influence him a little more, especially when you two aren’t around. He’s not exactly fond of either of you.  Humphries is a little more open-minded, so he can stick with you.”

Chance finally decided to speak up. He felt a lot more comfortable discussing tactics than Cohen’s emotional time-bomb. “Wait. Why not just keep them both with you?
You can keep an eye on them, use your persuasion and it’ll keep Lily and I free to maneuver however we need to.”

“You obviously do not remember actually meeting Whitmore.” Cohen’s laugh was a little too sarcastic and awkward to actually break any of the tension in the car. “My partner is not going to let you go anywhere without a police escort, Mr. Deveraux. Look, Humphries and Whitmore
are not the enemy. They can be our allies.” There was something in his voice when he talked about his partner, tension, hesitation. This emotional turmoil of his wasn’t just about Whitmore. There was something else, something deeper. Maybe it reminded him too much of something from his past. The curious side of her wanted to know, but she knew this wasn’t the time to go digging in Cohen’s past.

“And what are we supposed to say when Humphries takes a shot at Ashcroft and the monster dodges the bullet or starts to heal?” Chance definitely had a
valid point. This was a disaster. “Besides, wasn’t it you who said we needed to take care of this quietly or your family would slaughter anyone that knew anything? I don’t know about you, but I have a…” Chance faltered for a second and it made her wonder what he was going to say. “I have reasons to stay alive. I plan on making it back to New York. I have plans. Now the FBI is getting involved too. Shit. We have a small window here to resolve things.” Chance glanced at her for a moment with that comfortable, charismatic smile that made her whole body blush. “I’m not going to survive Ashcroft just to be taken out by a pack of secret emotion-suckers, no offense.”

“We don’t have any choice now.
Whitmore is going with me. Humphries is going with the two of you. There is no other choice.”

“That’s not entirely true.” Lilith meant her voice to be strong and confident, but it didn’t really come out that way. “I know you won’t like it, but we could knock them o
ut.”

“Are you fucking serious?” Cohen coughed on his breath as the car screeched to a halt at a stop light. “This isn’t a
damn buddy cop movie. We aren’t going to assault two cops just because they might get in the way.”

“Don’t patronize me, Cohen. I know this isn’t a damn movie. It was my cousin’s body I examined on that table. It’s my uncle, my father and my partner we are rushing off to save. I know it’s not as simple as a tap on the back of the head, but
it would solve the problem of them seeing something they shouldn’t. Chance is right. I don’t want to survive this just to be killed off by your family because we weren’t careful enough.”

“And what am I supposed to tell him when they wake up? He’d only assume that we are hiding something more insidious.
He’d probably shoot Chance on sight. He’d dig and dig, like a dog searching for a bone in China.”

“If either of them
see something they can’t handle, they are going to dig anyway.” This was exasperating. Either way they were all screwed. Once the atrocities at Goditha Labs hit the spotlight, they were gonna have to scramble. Going public was not going to be an option for a while now. The labs were part of Gregor’s plan to contribute to society and buy good favor with the American public. A slaughter wasn’t the way to start. Ashcroft had already won. Hopefully he was only succeeding in pushing them deeper into the shadows and not the alternative. If they were pushed into the public light with these devastating circumstances, Miriah, Goditha, the hotel fire, it would be devastating. Ashcroft would become a hero for slicing Lilith and her whole family into pieces.

Cohen’s voice pulled her out of the downward spiral of thoughts.
“You may not want to hear this, but we may actually need their help. We can handle damage control on keeping things quiet after we all walk out of that plant alive, but first we have to make sure we survive.”

Chance sighed heavily in the front seat. “I hate to admit it, Lily, but Cohen may be right. The two of us couldn’t take down Ashcroft at the lab. No offense, but I don’t think that Cohen is gonna make much of a difference.” Chance craned around the seat to look at her.
“Plus Ashcroft has hostages, ones we care about, ones that might make us hesitate.”

Lilith sank back in the seat, trying to avoid Chance’s eyes as they continued to study her.
“Fine.” And with that, the awkward silence continued. That was fine by her. She was outnumbered, but taking the two human cops just screamed disaster to her.

She stared out the window, watching as they
drove around the road to the Phipps Bend property. According to Cohen, they halted construction of the nuclear plant in 1981. Now it was just a mass of concrete beaten by the elements for the past thirty years. There were two crumbling bases for reactors, but funding was cut before they could really get started. Beyond them, a dozen or so buildings stretched out, covering the property which consisted of over a thousand acres. It was a good thing Whitmore had men posted around the property to watch for any unusual activity. If it wasn’t for him, they’d have no idea where to start. The place was massive, surrounded by a curving road that circled the entire complex and beyond that, forest.

Cohen pulled up behind a black sedan parked just outside the gate surrounding the abandoned plant.
Whitmore pulled himself out of the driver’s side, wiping at his tie and still chewing on something, probably the cop stakeout food of champions. It amazed her how he could chew and scowl all at the same time. He stalked up to Cohen as Humphries finally got out of the sedan. There was no delaying it anymore. Lilith took a deep breath and stepped out of the car.

Chance followed her and they formed a little circle, though Whitmore kept as much distance as he could between himself
and Chance. He obviously wasn’t too fond of her either. He kept glancing at her with a menacing frown. Of course he was a short, grumpy, aging man with a spare tire around his waist. Scowling was probably his typical modus operandi.

Something occurred to Lilith and she scanned the area. She didn’t see any other cars. “Where are the men you had stationed here?”

Whitmore glanced at her again, his nose wrinkling in disgust. Okay, maybe it wasn’t a bored look per say, more like a go to hell and die look. “I sent them back to their station. Ya’ll gonna finally tell me what in the hell is going on?” Whitmore growled and put his hands on his well-padded hips. “You send me on one more damn goose chase without explaining anything and I swear to Christ…”

Cohen headed everyone off at the pass.
“We don’t have time for details. We have a highly dangerous suspect with at least three hostages inside.” He popped the trunk and started rummaging while he was talking. “Time is essential. One of the victims has been held for at least 3 days. They may be delirious so use caution with the hostages.” Cohen handed Lilith a 9mm and two clips and then looked up at Chance.

“
I have a gun, but if you’re offering...” For a brief second, they shared a conspiratorial grin. The universe had to be coming to an end. Lilith rolled her eyes at the universal bonding agent called Testosterone.

“More can’t hurt.” Cohen handed a shotgun over to Chance complete with a pouch of ammo.

“Wait. You’re giving
him
a gun?! I thought you said its one suspect in there!”

“One very dangerous suspect.
I’d rather have more than we need than not enough.”

Whitmore looked out over the weather stained concrete buildings hovering over them in the darkness.
There was a calculating look in his eyes that she’d never seen before. It was enough to tell her that beyond the prejudice and small-minded country hick attitude, he was actually a fairly shrewd detective. Part of her was pleasantly surprised and the other part of her wished he was just a dumb country cop. A smart human was the last thing they needed heading into Ashcroft’s den. “Is he heavily armed? I don’t have the vests.”

“No. He’s very fast, strong, sneaky,
and deadly. Don’t think he’s not a threat just because he doesn’t have a gun. Might be on PCP or something. I don’t want any hesitations in there. If you see a crazy-eyed man with a crisscross of scars on his face, shoot and keep shooting until you’re out of ammo.”