Blood Lust (24 page)

“I don’t know, Libby, I’ve never been able to make you very happy. You’ve always found…others.”

“Not this time, love. I’ve changed. I could be the wife you always wanted me to be if only you’d let me try.”

“You know, Dad never would let us get a divorce. I guess, if you really thought we could make it work, and you were willing to give up your ‘friends.’ I have been missing you,” he said and leaned over and kissed her. She was all over him. She pulled away for a second and he was breathless from her kiss.

“Come home with me, Libby, please. Let’s go now. Dad will be so pleased that we are trying to work things out.”

“Okay. Let me grab some things and we can go.”

“No, I’ll buy you all new things, anything you want or need. Just come home with me. I need you, Libby, like no one else.”

She smiled deviously. “Well, if you insist. I suppose I could use a new wardrobe and...”

“Yes, yes, come now. You drive the red car back and I will drive mine. Last one back has to buy the whipped cream.”

A sparkle in her eyes said to him that he’d hooked her. She hopped up off the couch, grabbed her sunglasses, purse and her keys, and he opened the door for her, not locking it as he shut it behind them. He opened the door for her to the flashy red car, bent down and kissed her deeply. This time she was the one who seemed breathless when they pulled apart. He smiled at her as he closed her door and she started the car.

He ran to the car blocking the driveway, pulling his phone out of his pocket as he sat and started the car. He pushed the send button and took off like a shot, with her right behind him.

Dominic looked at his phone. “That’s the signal. He got her out of the house. Okay, now I call Blake.” He dialed his phone. “Blake? Dominic. They’re on their way towards the house. We are heading in now. Right. I’ll let you know what we find.”

Darby felt like her chest was going to burst open. Dominic looked at her. “Ready, Darby. Let’s go find Devon.” He started the car and put it in drive. In no time they were at the house. Darby knew that Libby wasn’t there, but she was so scared to walk up to the door, Dominic almost had to push her. Dominic turned the door knob, opened the door, and they both entered. Dominic said, “You take the upstairs, I’ll take the down and possibly the cellar. If you find anything, yell.”

“Okay,” she said nervously. She crept up the stairs as if trying to be quiet. She thought to herself
how idiotic I am trying to be quiet
. First room she came to was a bathroom, nothing exciting in there. Next was the master bedroom, it was huge. She checked the closets, the bathroom, and any other nook and cranny for any evidence of Devon. Nothing. She crept further down the hall and into another bedroom, nothing in the closets or traces of anyone ever being in this room. So further up the hallway she went to another bedroom. She stepped in to find Devon strapped naked and spread eagled to a very heavy metal bed. Huge chains were used with leather cuffs. He had bite marks on both sides of his neck and blood stained the pillows and sheets.

“Dominic!” she screamed as she ran to Devon. “Dear God, Devon, can you hear me? Please, baby, can you hear me?” She cried at seeing him so abused and beat up. Dominic walked in and shook his head in horror.

“Oh my God. Devon, what has she done to you?”

Darby listened for his heartbeat. It was there but it was so faint. She unbuckled his wrist that was closest to her as Dominic made his way around the bed unbuckling him from the other chains.

“We need to get him out of here immediately,” Dominic said as she cried, rocking Devon in her arms. Dominic looked around for any sign of his clothes, finding absolutely nothing. They wrapped him in the sheet that was wadded at the foot of the bed and Dominic carried him out and down the stairs as Darby opened the door to the house and then the backdoor of the car so that they could lay him in the backseat.

Darby ran to the other side of the car and got in the backseat. She lifted his head and laid it delicately on her lap. She shut the door and Dominic peeled out of there like an Indy 500 driver. He pulled his telephone out and started dialing.

“Blake, Dominic. We have him. Not good, not good at all. You wouldn’t recognize him, Blake. Make her pay for this, Blake, I beg of you. You make her pay.” He hung up.

Darby sobbed in the back seat with Devon. She stroked his face. He was so thin and he looked dead. Dominic was right; he didn’t even look like Devon. His cheeks jutted out and his wrists and ankles were black and blue, bloodied, and some injuries even looked infected. She begged him to hang in there. “How far is this place, Dominic? He’s not going to last long. You know what we have to do again?”

“I do, Darby. I don’t like it, but I do know. We’ll be there in ten minutes.”

“Make it five, Dominic. Please make it five.” She could hear him hit the accelerator, and by the way the car lurched forward and whined at a higher pitch, she knew he’d heard her.

They pulled up to a beach house, far away from the other houses in the area. Dominic jumped out of the car, and handed a key to Darby. She ran to the door of the house and Dominic grabbed Devon.

“Gail will never forgive me if you die, son. Don’t die on me, damn it,” he said as he carried him into the one bedroom beach house. He laid him on the bed that Darby had pulled the covers back on.

“Do it, Dominic. Now!” She screamed so loud he jumped. He leaned over and bit her neck and she turned to Devon, lifting his wobbling head to her as Dominic guided his mouth to her open wound.

“Drink, baby, please drink, Devon.” Nothing happened. “Devon. Please. Drink, damn it. It’s not working, Dominic, do something!”

She was screaming at such a pitch that Dominic was sure dogs for miles around could hear her. He didn’t know what to do and instinctively he bellowed, “Devon Michael Bloomington, drink something NOW!” Nothing happened. It was the longest couple of seconds in Darby’s life, then she thought she heard a swallow from Devon and a couple of seconds later, another.

“Drink, Devon. Drink. Baby, please.” Another forced gulp was heard. “Devon, please, sweetie, please, swallow,” she cried as tears poured down her face and she sobbed, rocking with him attached to her neck. He swallowed a few more times. She didn’t have to support his head now. He drew in a large gulp of blood, and a couple of seconds later another large gulp was heard.

“That’s it, Devon, feed, sweetie. Take what you need.” She could feel his lips moving now and the drawing of blood was getting more regular.

“Okay, Darby, pull him away.”

“But he hasn’t had enough.”

“He’ll be better. He can feed a little later. Let’s try and clean him up a bit. Can you go in the kitchen and get a bowl of clean water and some clean towels.”

“Yeah.” She felt a little woozy as she stood up, but was able to hold off the blackness, just a little wave of grayness. She could barely see out of her eyes with all the tears. She couldn’t help sobbing as she found a bowl, filled it with some warm water, and grabbed some towels from the bathroom. Dominic started on one side and Darby the other. They washed all his wounds and bandaged up his wrists and neck after they were thoroughly cleaned.

Darby said, “Is it possible for his wounds to be infected? They look terrible. Why hasn’t he healed? Should we call Dr. Rowe?”

“As soon as your blood starts pulsing through his body, his wounds will heal. It might take a little longer than usual, but they’ll heal. A vampire can’t heal himself if he hasn’t enough blood to keep him alive. She has kept his heart at such a state, I’m amazed he’s alive at all.”

“But he is. He drank. He’ll get better, right?”

“He will, sweetheart, and he has you to thank for his life in many, many ways.” Dominic held her tight and she sobbed uncontrollably for a while.

“She did such terrible things to him. Look at him, Dominic. Will his mind be able to cope with all this?”

“He will, sweetheart. Anton survived and so will Devon.”

“But she didn’t torture Anton like this. I mean, she sucked him dry, but this is horrid what she did.”

“I know, but he will heal. I know he will. His mother was a fighter. God knows I was horrible to Nathaniel, but he was a very strong man, too. Plus he’s got the Larsen stubbornness in him. He will survive this.”

“Shouldn’t we give him more blood?”

“Give him a little time.” Dominic stood up.

“You’re not leaving are you?”

“Well, I mean, I was.”

“No, Please don’t leave. Not until he’s at least conscious. He’ll need to feed again. I can’t pull him away if it goes too far. I need you.”

“I really should leave though in case she’s gotten away and is looking for us. She’ll find me, my car is easy to trace.”

“There have been no calls that anything has gone wrong. Surely, they would warn you if she got away.”

“I suppose. I’ll stay for a while. But my plan was for you two to leave here before nightfall and not tell anyone where you are headed. That way if she did escape she’d have no way of finding you through us. There is a car in the garage, in your name. Nothing fancy, just something to get you to where you need to go. We’ll send you a text when the coast is clear and the problem is dead and buried.”

“You think she’ll sense the plan and escape.”

“Better to go with the worst case scenario and plan for it, than be sorry in the end.”

“I guess.” She stroked Devon’s face.

“I’ll tell you what. I’ll go to the grocery store and get some snack food and sodas for your road trip and give you two a little alone time.”

“Alone time? He’s not conscious, Dominic.”

“He will be soon.” He smiled. “See. The color is coming back in his face. It’s going to be okay, Darby. You saved my sister’s baby boy. She’ll be so grateful.” She smiled at Dominic as he left the room. Darby lay on the bed next to Devon, stroking his face, brushing the stray hairs off of his forehead.

“Devon, it’s me, Darby. Everything is okay, sweetheart. I found you and you’re safe. No one believed me for so long. I wasn’t sure I believed me, but I found you. We’ll never let her hurt you again, Devon. I love you so much. I’ve missed you so very, very much. You’re going to be okay. You’re safe, sweetie. You’re safe here with me. Please wake up and say something.” But there was no movement. She could barely see the shallow movement of his breathing. She laid her head on his chest and listened to his heart. It sounded stronger, more rhythmic, and louder than before.

Chapter 21

Blake announced to everyone that Anton and Libby were on their way. The plan was working so far. Anton had fooled her; now it was up to them to complete the job. He knew he had at least a half an hour before they would be at the house, so he opted to call Rowan. She was never going to forgive herself for not trusting her sister, as he was not sure he would ever forgive himself for giving up on his brother.

“Rowan, hey sweetie, it’s Blake.”

“Hey. How was your flight? You didn’t kill Dean did you?”

“No. Flight was fine and Dean is still alive.”

“So, when are you coming home? Did you talk to Darby yet?”

“Umm, yeah, about that.”

“What?”

“Well, it seems she found Devon.”

“She what? You mean she found Devon and Libby? Yuck, I’m sure she’s not handling that well after going off the deep end.”

“Well, that’s the funny thing, you see, she didn’t go off the deep end. We did.”

“What do you mean, Blake?”

“I mean your sister was right all along about everything. Libby has men all over the east coast that are half drained of their lives – she leeches off of them. She’s been controlling their minds, feeding off their sexual energy, and draining them of their vampire blood.”

“No, that’s not possible…you said vampires can’t do that.”

“Well, apparently I was wrong. You should see the tons of research and paperwork she and this guy, Mark, came up with that proves everything. Libby even got rid of women that Anton started getting too close to. She’d pay them off and move them out. Even sent one to a mental hospital because she wouldn’t leave Anton.”

“Oh my God, Blake. What have we done?”

“Exactly. We gave up on our families is what we’ve done, Rowan. Darby was right all along, every single fact. Libby lured him away from the house and then had some kind of telepathic mind control thing over him as she drained him, like she did with Anton.”