Eternal Prey (34 page)

Lia would want the flower. The flower was important.

He couldn’t process all his thoughts. His beast wanted to forget the flower and get on with the slaughter. But he knew the woman needed the flower, needed
him.

Beast warred with human. Humanity won. Utah returned to human form even as he reached for the flower. Not much could take the place of opposable thumbs. He plucked the flower and struggled to his feet. He had to find Lia.

Utah was vulnerable now, but that’s not what drove him as he forced his way through the fighting masses.
Where was Lia?
Luckily, the nonhumans pretty much ignored him in human form. They were too busy trying to tear each other apart.

He glanced around. Tor was locked in battle with two of Adam’s vampires. Seven was just visible through the mob. She faced Ty, Spin, and Gig. He drew in a sharp breath as all three winked out one after the other. Damn. She must’ve returned them to human form. At least, he hoped that’s all she’d done.

He couldn’t help them now, couldn’t help Tor either. Fear—an unfamiliar emotion—choked him.
Where the hell was Lia?
He tried to stem the adrenaline surge urging him to action,
any
action. His pounding heart threatened to kick a hole in his chest if he didn’t do something
now
. He forced himself to slowly study the crowd.

There.
She’d almost reached Seven. Holding the flower above his head, he slipped through any openings offered. But just when Utah thought things were swinging his way, Seven turned to face Lia.

No, no, no!
Determination gave him strength he’d felt only in his beast’s form. He fought his way toward her, beating back anyone who got in his way.

Lia missed her sword, but she’d been right to leave it back at the condo. It would’ve hampered her movements in this mob. Besides, she didn’t have time to take any heads. She had to reach Christine with . . . Well, that was the problem. She didn’t have seven of anything yet. Urgency snapped at her heels. She forced one foot in front of the other and tried to keep hope alive. Her time with Utah would
not
end with her flat on her face in front of Christine.

Glancing up, she saw Ty disappear. It took her a moment to realize that Christine had returned him to human form. Panicked, she watched the same thing happen to Spin and Gig. God, let them survive in human form until they could find their beasts again.

Lia looked behind her. She couldn’t see Utah. Two vampires kept Tor busy.
Where was Utah?
Fear for him almost paralyzed her. She took a deep breath, forced herself to concentrate on Christine.

Lia was on her own. Somewhere beyond the trees, she heard a series of explosions, followed by brilliant flashes of light. Fin and Zero were getting physical this time. She hoped Kione and Seir could help Fin and still stay alive.

Christine started to turn when Lia was about twenty feet away from her. Oh no. Lia looked frantically around for a seven—buttons on a shirt,
anything.
Where the hell was the freaking seven Fin had said she’d find?

Lia was now ten feet away from Christine and closing, but the other woman had spotted her. Christine smiled, a smile that promised her that death would be swift and not particularly painless.

She wasn’t going to make it. Beyond Christine, she saw that Ty, Spin, and Gig had regained their predator forms. Relief flooded her. Lia hoped she’d be tonight’s only casualty. She wanted to turn for a possible last glimpse of Utah, but the press of bodies kept pushing her forward.

Christine waited, an immortal spider certain that her prey was firmly caught in her web. “So brave, but so foolish. Did you honestly think you could make a difference?” She glanced down at the gun still clutched in Lia’s hand. The gun disappeared.

Christine seemed annoyed rather than fearful as the battle raged around her. Of course, she had the advantage of being indestructible.

Suddenly, Lia heard someone shouting her name above the din. Utah? She looked behind her. He was back in human form and fighting his way toward her.

God, no! He’d die in human form. She tried to wave him away, but he ignored her. Lia watched in horror as he pressed forward.

Then she noticed something. What the . . . ? Lia stared. He was waving something above his head.

Christine laughed. “How sweet. He’s bringing you a flower. We’ll put it on your grave.” Her laughter faded. “I could’ve destroyed all of your little attack party if Fin hadn’t used some of his power to protect you.”

This was news to Lia.

Christine pouted. “This little setback is inconvenient, but it’ll hardly stop me.” She seemed to perk up. “But Zero is draining Fin’s power, so I’ll be able to kill
you
.” She glanced past Lia to where Utah drew closer, still waving his flower. “And
him
.”

No.
He was risking his life to bring her a flower. Lia tried to wave him away, but Utah stretched his hand out to give it to her. She reached past a bunch of bodies to grab it from his fingers. He was trying to tell her something, but there was so much noise that even with her enhanced hearing she couldn’t understand him.

As she took it, she met his gaze. The last time she’d see him. Her final chance to say what she should’ve said last night when they made love. Bloody tears trailed down her face. She swept them away with her hand.

“I love you.” She mouthed the words. There was nothing more to say. She didn’t have time to watch his reaction.
Please free your beast and stay safe.

Lia glanced down at the flower. It didn’t have seven petals. A beautiful parting gesture but not the hoped-for miracle. She turned back to Christine.

A Christine who watched her from narrowed eyes. “You and your friends have ruined my party. I’ll make sure to give the eruptions extra punch to express my anger. A lot more humans will die because of you.”

Just what Lia needed, a whopping dollop of guilt to pile on top of her already mountain-sized sense of failure.

“Time to die, little vampire.” Christine took the steps needed to reach her. “I could destroy you neatly without getting any messy stains on my gown, but you know how I love the scent and taste of fresh blood. First, I think I’ll rip out your heart and lick it.” She slid her tongue across her lips, a strangely erotic gesture.

Lia shuddered. This was it then. Her dying time. She wouldn’t go down without a fight, though. In the end, she was Katherine’s daughter. She got ready to make Christine regret taking the bloody path in killing her.

Her mind was way ahead of her, imagining the pain, the final moment, the rending forever of her connection to Utah.

Suddenly, her thoughts ground to a halt. Her mind rewound the last few seconds. She’d missed something important. Lia wasn’t sure what it was, but . . .

She looked down at the flower again. It seemed as though everything faded away—the fighting, the screams, the hopelessness—until only one thing existed in her entire universe.
A bright yellow flower.

And as Christine reached out to take her heart, Lia scooped up the ladybug with its glorious seven spots from the flower’s petals and placed it on Christine’s outstretched hand. “There. A going-away gift from me to you, bitch.”

Christine’s eyes widened in horror. She dropped the ladybug, but the damage was done. She began to shimmer.

“No! I don’t want to leave.” Christine’s frantic gaze was fixed beyond Lia. “Help me.”

Lia turned to see whom she’d appealed to.

Fin stood at the edge of the tree line. He was pale and looked as though he could barely stay on his feet. He stared at Christine. Some powerful emotion passed between them. Then he shook his head. And turning away, he disappeared back into the forest.

Lia’s respect for the Eleven’s leader took a giant leap. Fin really cared for Christine. But he’d chosen humanity over her. He wasn’t afraid to make the hard choices.

Lia looked back at Christine in time to see her disintegrating into glowing particles. It was all over within a matter of seconds. At the end, all the glowing bits coalesced into a whirling ball of light and disappeared into the night sky.

Only two thoughts filled her mind. Utah and relief that made her legs go all rubbery. Her gaze automatically went to where she’d last seen him.
There.
He’d shoved his way almost to her side. Other than a bloody cut on the side of his face, he looked okay.
Thank you, God.
Something stretched tight inside her slowly relaxed. He was safe.

Only then did Lia realize complete silence had fallen. She looked around. Most nonhumans were pretty pragmatic. Their leader was gone, and they’d ended up trying to beat the crap out of each other. They realized their union wasn’t going to happen.

Lia could see Adam moving among them trying to rally them, but only his vampires paid any attention. The other nonhumans melted away, leaving the vampire leader furious at his lost opportunity for world domination.

Adam was crazy out of control when he spotted Lia. She didn’t like the look in his eyes as he started toward her. Lia had no doubt there would be only pieces of her left if he reached her. She tensed to run. That’s when Utah stepped up beside her.

Not in front of her.
Beside
her. Even with her life on the line, warmth flooded her. He acknowledged her fighting ability without saying a word. Lia wondered if he recognized the importance of his gift.

Adam stopped about ten feet in front of them. He almost vibrated with his need to kill. “Too late to call your beast.” His smile was twisted, filled with hate as he stared at Utah. “I can reach you before you even think about it.”

Utah shrugged. “I don’t need my beast for this.”

Lia nudged Utah. No need to enrage Adam to a frothing frenzy. And why
hadn’t
Utah called his raptor? Invulnerability was a good thing.

“You think not?” Adam curled his lip, exposing his fangs.

“Lia is one of your regional leaders. She’s vampire now, so her people will feel even more loyalty to her. Your power base has eroded, Adam. Look behind you.” Utah seemed calm, confident.

Unwilling to take his gaze from Utah, Adam glanced quickly over his shoulder. His remaining vampires had faded into the forest.

Adam’s furious hiss promised death and dismemberment to those who’d run away.

Utah continued. “So I’d say you need strong regional leaders on your side. And I bet if you showed Lia some respect, she’d be willing to work with you again.”

Hell wouldn’t be freezing over anytime soon. But Lia didn’t share that fact with Adam.

Utah threw out his final argument. “Get weak enough, and someone else will be waiting to jump in and take over.”

“Jude.” Adam’s snarl showed he knew where the danger lay.

Utah shrugged. “I bet there’re others.” Reaching out, he took Lia’s hand and turned away from the angry vampire.

They walked toward the forest, and Lia felt Adam’s hate-filled gaze on her back every inch of the way. Utah only paused long enough to make sure Tor was okay and then he led her into the shelter of the trees. Relief flooded her once they were out of Adam’s sight.

He kept walking until they reached a clear spot that opened to a view of Portland’s lights far below them. Beautiful and somehow a fitting ending to this horrendous night.

“You took a big chance.” She tightened her grip on his hand, her only admission of how much he’d scared her back there.

“Not really.” He pulled her close and wrapped his arm around her waist. “I get the feeling Adam isn’t universally loved by his people. I don’t think many bloody tears would be shed if we killed him. And I bet Adam knows that. He’s all about staying in power, even if that means sparing your life.”

“When we first met you would’ve just killed him and forgotten about it.” Now that Christine’s heat had faded, Lia could feel the night’s chill. She snuggled closer to him.

His smile flashed white in the darkness. “You’ve corrupted me. I’m listening to my human side too much. That means probably overanalyzing things. If we killed Adam, it might make him into a martyr with his people. We still need the vampires to help us.”

Lia didn’t want to talk about Adam. She wanted to talk about—

Utah turned her to face him. He pushed her hood back from her face with fingers that didn’t seem quite steady. “Did you really say, ‘I love you’ back there?”

She stilled. Here it came. Her admission. What did she know about love? She loved her father. She’d tried to love her mother. That hadn’t worked out well. And that was her total experience with love. Until Utah. Lia gazed up at him, into those eyes that shone warm for her even in the darkness. Experience or not, she knew what she wanted.

Lia tipped her head up as he lowered his head. She feathered a kiss across his lips before whispering, “Oh yes. That was definitely an ‘I love you.’ ”

Burying his face in her neck, he exhaled deeply. Then he kissed the spot where her blood beat strong at the base of her throat. “I thought I might be twisting the words into what I wanted to hear.” His husky laughter heated her flesh. “You could’ve just been saying, ‘I love Chinese takeout.’ ”