Finding Fire: Paranormal Romance (Bad Boys Of The Underworld Book 1) (18 page)

“We have to go,” he managed before he turned from her and walked to the driver’s side of the car. He heard her slide off the hood and open her door. He started the car but didn’t drive off right away.

“Are we going?” she asked.

“There is one thing I have to know before we go any further.”

She looked at him. “What?”

“Your back. I need to know who did that to you.”

She immediately stiffened. “Why would you need to know that?”

“Because there is a possibility you might die tonight. If that happens, I need to know who I should be hunting down and killing.”

Anna averted her gaze toward the front of the car. “Well, I guess that depends on Aleksander.”

“What do you mean?”

Her gaze met his again. “My father did that to me. And I haven’t seen my father since that day fifteen years ago when I saw Aleksander kill a man. I’m hoping Aleksander can tell me if he’s truly dead or still out there somewhere.”

Anna tried to force her heart to remain calm as she walked along the long winding path to the
compound
.

Nicolas had always called it that so casually, and she hadn’t thought about it much. Apparently
huge ass mansion
was the same thing as
compound
to Nicolas.

The structure was beautiful and sprawling up in the middle of the forest. There were no outside lights to show her the road. That vampire night vision must have rendered lots of lighting useless.

However, lights glowed from the windows of the mansion. It was beautifully made of light-colored brick, with huge white pillars all along the front.

It didn’t even look all that scary. She supposed vampires were scary enough as it was. They didn’t need their homes to scare people off.

Actually, considering they lived off humans, it would probably be best if their houses were inviting.

She reached to her waist and fidgeted with the hilt of the dagger Nicolas had given her. It had seemed like a good idea to keep it at her waist, but it wasn’t too secure. If she had to run, she would have to hold onto it. Not that running would get her anywhere if a vampire was chasing her.

Her nerves increased the closer she got to the house. She took comfort knowing Nicolas was somewhere in the dark forest, looking after her right now. She walked up to a beautiful mahogany door and took a deep breath. This would be her last chance to turn back.

She brushed a hand through her hair. She didn’t usually wear it down, but she wanted to cover the two puncture holes in her neck. She looked behind her and told herself again that she needed to do this and was reassured with the knowledge Nicolas was right behind her somewhere.

She just needed to keep the guards outside and not go in with them if she could help it.

With that thought in mind, she lifted her hand and knocked on the door.

Before she could panic, the massive door swung open and two muscular men stared at her. For a moment, she was speechless. Two vampires stood in front of her, and chances were they weren’t friendly.

One of the guards was light with a pale complexion and gold blonde hair. The other had darker skin and curly black hair.

She shook off her fear and let her act play along with her nerves. “Oh my gosh! I’m so happy you’re home,” she gushed out, trying to sound loud and unappetizing.

“I was driving on this road, with nothing and no one for miles and miles, and my car just stops for no reason in the middle of the night and my cell phone isn’t working, and I am, like, freaking out that I’m going to die or something.” She took a second to breathe. “You know?”

The two men glanced at each other and back at her. She asked, “Do you think you two could come out to my car and take a look at it? It’s probably nothing, but I know, like, zilch about cars.” She brought up two fingers and held them close together to emphasize how little she knew about cars.

The dark one spoke first. “I’m sorry to hear that. Why don’t you come in and we can call someone for you.”

Anna shook her head. She couldn’t go inside with them. “I don’t think I should. Really, if you could just come look at it, I’m sure it’s nothing major.”

The lighter one made eye contact with her. “I think it would be best if you came inside with us.”

For a moment, everything floated away. She took two steps toward the inside of the massive building.
Yes, going into the house was a great idea.

Just as one of her feet was over the threshold, she shook out of it.
No.
He was controlling her. She couldn’t make eye contact with them.

She looked at a point over the lighter one’s shoulder and tried to back away. “I really don’t want to intrude.”

A large hand wrapped around her forearm and pulled her the rest of the way into the house. She struggled, but it became apparent that the light one holding her had inhuman strength.

She gave one last effort to keep her act going. “Really, I don’t need to come inside.”

The light one’s other hand came up to her chin and turned her face toward his. She struggled, but his strength snapped her head to the side until she looked right at him.

Her eyes met his light blue ones and lost focus for a moment. They were so beautiful. He started to speak and she slammed her eyes shut. She tried to move her face and struck out blindly with her free arm.

Her fist got a decent slam at his face when two steel-like arms wrapped around her from behind and held her still. She kicked with her feet and shot her head forward blindly. She was too afraid to open her eyes, convinced she’d be mesmerized. She just had to keep them occupied until Nicolas got to her.

Where was he, anyway?

The vampire behind her held both her arms and had her lifted so her feet didn’t touch the ground. The other vampire touched her face. “Open your eyes, woman. I’ll make sure this won’t hurt.”

She kicked out again and felt something fleshy under her foot. She had no idea what she hit.

The vampire grunted. “Bitch.”

His hands wrapped around her and spun her around. The one behind her must have let go, because the next thing she knew, she was slammed against a wall.

The slamming of the wood against her back stunned her for a moment. Her eyes opened, and the world around her spun. She looked at the man pinning her, and her heart leaped out of her chest.

Black eyes stared at her hungrily, and she could see his fangs poke out from under his lip. She tried to reach for her dagger, but she didn’t have room to get to it. One hand came up and bent her head at a painful angle, and she felt an intense pain at her neck as his fangs sunk into her.

She let out an angry scream as he started to drink her blood. She could feel warm liquid slide down her neck.

He must have liked her taste, because he dragged her to the floor, where he crouched over her and continued to feast. She heard something bang in the background.
Did something fall over?

From this position, she could finally grab her weapon. She maneuvered the sheath off with one hand. She gripped tight and prepared to strike. She couldn’t get a shot at his heart from her angle, but she figured that, considering where he was biting her, the neck was fair game.

With all her might, she plunged the dagger completely into his fleshy neck. She grimaced as his blood shot at her. She moved her head to the left, but she’d already gotten a lot of the red liquid on her lower face and shirt.

He opened his mouth to roar in pain, but no sound came out. She must have gotten his air pipe. She didn’t waste time looking at him. She jumped up and ran into the closest door she saw and slammed it shut behind her.

As she braced herself against the door, she cursed her luck. It was a bathroom with no windows she could crawl out of.

She waited for a blow to crash against the door but nothing came. She heard some commotion and more things break in the other room.
Nicolas must be out there
, she thought with relief.

She looked to her left and froze. Her own reflection stared back at her. The bottom of her face was covered in vampire blood, and the front of her shirt was covered with her own.

She brought her shaking hands to her face, trying to wipe the vile stuff off. It did her no good. All she was accomplishing was smearing blood around.

She ran to the sink and splashed the icy-cold water that came out of the faucet on her face. She had the coppery taste on her tongue. She pushed water in her mouth and tried to spit every last drop out.

Could this make her a vampire? A few drops of blood?

She looked back up at her reflection. A few splotches of red remained. She barely looked human.

The door to the bathroom broke open and Nicolas met her eyes in the mirror.

~~~~~

Nicolas’s heart almost stopped as he saw Annabelle standing alone, shaking and covered in blood.

He should have gotten to her sooner. He’d run into a guard in the woods and couldn’t get past him. He’d heard her struggles from the darkness of the trees, and couldn’t get to her fast enough!

By now the two men in the foyer of the compound were taken care of, but there would soon be more. She needed to get out of here.

He walked up behind her and turned her to face him. He gently grasped her face between his hands and tilted her head to the side to bare her neck.

“That looks painful,” he remarked on her fresh bite wound. “This is too dangerous. You need to leave.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but he had no time for her arguments. She would die if she stayed. He would have to make her leave. “No.” He cut her off before she could start. “You need to look at me.”

She looked at him and he stared into those blue eyes. He focused his attention and felt the exact moment he made a connection with her. He spoke quickly. “You will leave this place. Go to the woods and run as fast as you can to the car. You will not look back or wait for me. You will go back to the city.”

“Aleksander...” she muttered. He should have known her mind would be extremely strong.

Nicolas didn’t want to deceive her, but he needed to keep her safe. So far, he was doing a piss-poor job of it. “Aleksander killed your friend and your father. He’s a sadistic man and he told you this right before you escaped.”

“I need to leave,” she said in a distant voice.

Nicolas broke the contact with her. She blinked a couple of times as her mind was released from his grip. “Go,” he directed. “I will meet up with you. I will lead the hunters away from you.”

She nodded and ran out of the room and out of the house. He was behind her and watched her run to the road. He quickly reopened a wound in his wrist and let his blood drip to the dirt at his feet.

After a few drops were absorbed into the earth, he took off in the opposite direction of Annabelle, knowing that it was his scent that would interest any of Aleksander’s men.

~~~~~

Anna ran as hard as she could. Her feet couldn’t take her as fast as she wanted to go. She felt wetness drip down her face but didn’t pause to wipe the tears away.

She ducked behind a tree and tried to catch her breath. She could feel the world spinning. She’d lost too much blood to be walking fast, let alone running at breakneck speeds.

She leaned against the cold bark and looked around her for any sign of Nicolas.
How could he do this?

He’d invaded her mind. Tried to give her memories.

She pushed off the tree and turned back toward the mansion. She saw a dark blur in front of the door. It was gone in the blink of an eye. It must be what vampires look like when they run.

It seemed as though they were going away from the road and deeper into the woods. They were following Nicolas.

Was he really trying to protect her? She took a swallow between panting breaths and tasted the hint of blood in her mouth. Blood that wasn’t her own.

That was why his control didn’t taken hold. The blonde vampire had almost managed to enchant her with just the slightest glance. A full-on stare with Nicolas hadn’t worked.

Drinking vampire blood would make her immune to their control. She didn’t know how long that would last. For that matter, she didn’t know what other side effects the blood might have.

The worst part was that she’d agreed with Nicolas that they should leave. It was obviously more dangerous than she anticipated, and she didn’t want him to get hurt because she was desperate for answers.

She’d even opened her mouth to say so when he stopped her. She kept on forgetting the most important fact about him: He wasn’t human. He ate humans. Humans like her.

He used her body and her blood. Had he ever taken her mind before this? Had he ordered her to forget? Rage filled her at the thought of him violating her like that.

She had done things with him that she’d never imagined doing with anyone. And what did he do to her in return? Tie her to beds, chase her down, and sneak into her mind.

Screw him
, she thought. She’d been on her own most of her life and had lived alone with one of the most evil men in the world for thirteen hellish years. If he thought that could stop her from getting her answers, he was wrong.

As it so happened, most of Aleksander’s guards were chasing a vampire in the middle of the woods, and she wasn’t susceptible to compulsion at the moment. She walked back toward the large structure.

There were no dead bodies in the entryway. Nicolas had been here in a rage. What had happened to the two men who had met her at the door?

Anna looked to the spot of the room where she’d been bitten. Blood smeared the rather expensive-looking marble floor. As she looked around her, she noticed everything looked expensive.

The room had a Grecian feel to it, and the whites and marble of the room were in stark contrast to the red blood that now marred the beauty of it.