Fierce Dawn (21 page)

“
Sadie Graves, you little tramp!”

Elijah spun. So did Sadie. “Ben! Hi.”

Elijah frowned. How had he mistaken this human for Enforcement? Paranoid, he checked his compass. Not a single nearby immortal vibration.

“
I cannot believe it,” Ben cooed. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, you hooking up with a dude isn’t so far-fetched no matter what your sister told Cynthia, but I had no idea in my wildest dreams you’d snagged this delicious morsel of man. Hi. I’m Ben.”

Elijah shook Ben’s hand. “Actually, I did the snagging,” Elijah said. He pulled Sadie to his side, hating how much he liked her there, how readily he gave into another excuse to touch her. “Once I finally got up the nerve to ask Sadie out, she refused.”

Ben gasped. “You’re lying! You turned him down? Really?”

Sadie nodded, pressing her lips together. “I did. He—uh—came on a little too strong and I thought he was a little weird, actually,” she said, that dare still in her eyes.

“
Weird?” Elijah said, taking her bait. “Well, I suppose a spontaneous picnic on top of a desert bluff isn’t exactly your average first date.”

“
Picnic?” she said, but Ben spoke over her.

“
Oh! How romantical! I admit it. I’m dying of envy here. When did all this happen? If you kept him a secret all this time, Sadie, I will never forgive. Oh, okay, I will, but you owe me every detail. Now!” He stomped his foot.

Elijah trusted his senses this time, detecting an Enforcer looming and steered Sadie into a walk. Ben tagged along.

Sadie wound her hair around her fist. “You said my sister came by the library?”

“
Mmm, hmmm. What’s up with her, anyways? Don’t take this wrong. I adore you, honey
,
but your sister is a hag. And she don’t like you verra much. Fab jeans, by the way. You could snap a quarter off your ass. Do they pinch?”

The Enforcer trailed their path. Elijah dug out his compass and found Lyric’s trace on the ground level of the mall, a few stores ahead. Blame it on the muddle kissing Sadie created or too many sounds to track, but he couldn’t sense Lyric or Holly’s vibrations. “I’m sorry to cut your visit short, Sadie, love, but we have to be going.”

Ben’s eyes lit ever brighter. “Oh, don’t let me keep you two. Where are you off to?”

Sadie shrugged, glancing at Elijah. “Paris, right?”

Actually, leaving the country might be a good idea. The safe house might be compromised and Sadie couldn’t yet cross realm lines. “It’s a surprise. First, we need to meet up with our travel companions.”

“
Need any more of those?” Ben winked, trotting along. “Kidding! A little. No really. I’m dying of jealousy. I cannot wait to tell Cynthia. She will bust at the seams, girl.”

“
Tell her what?”

“
About you snagging the hunk every last woman in the building drooled over for the last six months. Yes, you’re the hunk. Yes, I admit it, me included. Don’t act like you don’t know you’re beautiful.”

Elijah could strangle the guy. Not only was he slowing them down, he was making Sadie uncomfortable. Static emanated off of her. The wrong word and she’d shock him right there in the middle of human shopping havoc. Okay. Not havoc. But enough traffic to warrant Enforcement swooping in. Speaking of, the Enforcer following them got closer and brought a friend. At least Elijah hoped it was a friend. With his senses so skewed, it could be an army.

Holly’s flame-tipped hair caught his eye. He breathed easier. Meaningfully, he squeezed Sadie’s hand. “Good meeting you, Ben. Unfortunately, we have to run.”

Ben gave him a measuring look but nodded. “Alright. Call me, okay Sadie? Details. Promise?”

As Ben left, Lyric and Holly joined them.

“
Get over it,” Holly hissed at Lyric.

“
Sweetheart, I’ve been over it.” Lyric smiled cruelly. “You know what they say, fool me once.”

Holly rolled her eyes, sparks spit off her fingertips when she dismissed Lyric with a wave. “Shut it.” To Elijah, she said, “What happened back there on the mountain?”

“
We have an audience,” Lyric said, projecting images of four separate enforcers. By the look of them, feeders. Would they recognize
Sadie
as a changeling?

Elijah couldn’t risk the slim chance. He decided quickly, and hoped he wouldn’t regret it.

He grasped Sadie by her shoulders. “Remember how we talked about trust? We’re about to be neck deep in the human equivalent of the CIA. I need you to go with Lyric. Now.”

Sadie opened her mouth but didn’t argue.

“
Lyric?” Elijah said.

“
Consider us gone.” The feeder took Sadie’s hand and ducked swiftly around a corner. Elijah met Holly’s gaze and before he had time to address the anger sparking there, a steely hand gripped his bi-cep.

~ ~ ~

Chapter Fifteen

“
Shouldn’t we be leaving? Running?” Sadie asked, yanking her hand out of Lyric’s grip. She had no time to freak out over seeing Holly’s hair sparkling like fire, or over seeing long fangs from the corner of her vision before Lyric whisked her away. She had time for panic.

“
No. What we should be doing is hiding, waiting,” Lyric said. “This alley will do as well as any other dark mall corner in the bright daylight.”

Sadie backed against the concrete wall, wariness creeping over her skin. His eyes were blacker than black. Obsidian. Steely. “Wha-what are you?”

Lyric cocked his head, smirking. “Can’t you guess?”

She did and her skin crawled with fear. Elijah was right. She wasn’t ready for wolves. Or vampires. “Why did he make you take me?” she asked.

“
Because an enforcer is interrogating him and Holly as we speak and he wants you safe.”

Sadie swallowed against the dryness in her tight throat. “Now what?”

“
We wait. I do my best to feed in what is happening, and if Elijah asks, we’ll leave.” He nodded his head toward a chrome
-
laden motorcycle parked nearby.

Sadie balked, and almost let him know she wouldn’t be getting on anything so dangerous, thank you very much. But the thought evaporated with his next words.

“
If you think Elijah returns your feelings, you’re wrong.”

“
Excuse me?” She tried to sound offended.

Lyric prowled a semi-circle around her, his boots scuffing the pavement in an eerie rhythm with her pounding heart. The oily stink of the loading corridor mingled with a candy-like sweetness she surmised must be his scent.

“
Elijah is a seeker,” he said. “He can’t help triggering lust in the primitive areas of your limbic system. He tries but he can only shield so much.”

Sadie attempted a scoff. “It isn’t lust.”

“
Don’t lie to yourself. He fills your thoughts, distracts you from logic. His every move seems a flirtation meant solely for you. You’ve imagined it all. His mouth on your skin. His voice calling your name. Only your name. Pure lust, toying with your inhibitions. But sadly, he doesn’t return the feeling.”

The cold concrete absorbed the sweat from her palms. Sadie shrugged but couldn’t meet him in the eye. Was she so transparent? So cow-eyed over Elijah?

“
Don’t blame yourself.” Lyric slunk closer. “You’re only human after all. Once you change, your lust will recede and you’ll see Elijah for who he is. Another immortal man, flawed as any other being on the skin of this world.”

How could Elijah have handed her over to this vampire? “You sound like you hate him.”

“
Elijah? No. Not hate. He’s my friend, my brother. Do you have siblings?” His steely gaze darted over her features and settled at her throat.

Sadie nodded, wishing the lump in her throat would dislodge. “Then it’s me you dislike.”

He smiled. “No, sweetling. I have nothing against you, or any human, for that matter.” He leaned his head in and inhaled, closing his eyes. “But I can smell the mouth-watering aroma of your blood pumping through your veins.” He opened his eyes. They appeared lit from within, glowing the darkest, deepest crimson.

Sadie trembled, preparing to claw those eyes out if he so much as touched her. Elijah’s words echoed in her head.
Trust him
.

Despite her fear of him, what Lyric said struck home. Hadn’t Elijah apologized for using her lust against her? Were the dreams of him all those months because of what he was and not a crush at all?

Lyric watched her with heavy lidded eyes, their glow becoming searing red. “It’s not so long ago that I flirted with liquid bliss such as yours and while I know it would destroy everything I am, everything I’ve worked to get back, your blood sings to me, begging me for one last chance.”

Sadie
’s
mouth went dry. Her knees quaked. Clapping both hands, Lyric backed away. Sadie braced against the wall, ready for an attack. But he only regarded her a long moment, then strode away.

“
Here comes your angel now,” he called past his shoulder.

Sadie glanced about, searching the sky, the corridor, the metal door for some glimpse of Elijah. In an instant, he arrived. She knew the heat and vibration of his transport and spun around. “Sadie,” he said.

She almost went to him but stopped, remembering the lust Lyric warned her about. Those kisses weren’t real. They were tactics. Skills used to placate and distract her. She should feel mad over them.

“
Thank you,” Elijah said to Lyric, sending him a look Sadie wasn’t certain how to describe. Part desperation. Part gratitude. And something more.

“
What is it?” Sadie said. “Tell me what happened.”

Elijah shook his head. “Holly’s hurt. I have to get her to Astrid. Lyric will keep you safe. I promise.”

“
Hurt? How? What hap
—
.” But he’d already gone.

The unmistakable roar of a motorcycle punctuated Elijah’s departure. Sadie forced her feet toward the feeder and his bike. He tossed her a pair of aviator goggles. She eyed them a moment before giving up and donning them. Her imagination lit with fear, scenes of Elijah and Holly battling who knew what.

“
Will you at least tell me where now?”

“
The less you know the better. Suffice it to say, as far and as fast as we can go. But if you want to survive any of this,” he said, revving the engine
,
“
y
ou’ll need to get that wild pulse under control. You’re like a fucking tracking beacon on every immortal radar within six decibels.”

Lyric’s motorcycle made Jen’s mustang feel like a golf cart. The sculpted metal and leather hugged the road so sleekly, so quietly, Sadie imagined they were gliding on air. And then they were. Lyric veered a sharp right
,
forcing the bike airborne.

“
Hold on tighter.”

She didn’t need any further encouragement. She locked her arms around his hard waist, and shut her eyes tight. Her body tensed. A ripple went through her, leaving a cramping pain in its wake.

“
Don’t close your eyes,” Lyric called.

Wondering how he knew she had, Sadie forced them open, fighting to breathe, to stay calm. She didn’t want to shock him. The goggles helped tame her hair
,
but seemed to magnify every city detail as it suddenly shrank away.

Another shudder quaked through her muscles. Her arms locked tighter, shaking.

“
Are you cold?” Lyric called again. But before she could so much as shake her head no, he made a sharp turn. “Hellfuck.”

Even if Sadie wanted to know what he was cussing over, she couldn’t ask. As soon as the pain left her and she caught her breath, it knocked out of her again, a new wave punching through her.

“
Try to relax. You won’t fall. I swear it. It’s a simple matter of gravity propulsion and steam. You’re safer on this with me than in your own vehicle.”

Sadie tried to answer but only got a grunt out. Each new shudder hit more painfully, appeared faster on the last’s heels. Jesus. What was happening to her? Was Lyric doing something to her? Was someone else? She wanted to go home. But the idea of home seemed foreign and far away.

She wanted Elijah.

“
Can you walk?” Lyric asked, his voice distant.

Sadie realized they’d come to a stop. And that she’d been squeezing her eyes shut. The pain released from her muscles and she opened her eyes. They were parked outside the sprawling mocha colored stucco home Elijah brought her to yesterday. Only yesterday? Cacti and mesquite trees dotted otherwise barren landscape. She got off the bike, Lyric helping her. “Where
—
?”

“
The safe house.”

“
No, I thought
—
.” A new grip of pain racked her, bending her over. Her sharp gasp felt detached. So did Lyric’s arms as he scooped her legs and cradled her shoulders.