Flutter (36 page)

The ground seemed to move around me, falling away. A
cold wind blew over me, but I could barely feel it. I couldn’t see
anything. There was just the pain.

I could smell blood, and that frantic animal part of
me was barreling in. I tried to move, to fight to get at the blood,
but my arms wouldn’t work. They were shaking violently, and I
wondered dully if I was having a seizure.

The world swayed and bowed around me, and I was about
ready to kill Jack to get his blood. The pain was so excruciating
that I would’ve killed anyone to make it stop.

“Alice, drink.” I heard Jack’s voice in my ear, but I
didn’t know what he was talking about.

I could smell him, but it wasn’t his blood. It was
warm and fresh and pounding quickly. I wanted to drink it, but I
couldn’t find it. I couldn’t speak or move.

Warm skin pressed against my lips, and I felt the
pulse of veins throbbing on my mouth. Without thinking, I sunk my
teeth and drank. Almost instantly, my strength picked up, and I
grabbed onto whoever I was drinking. I pressed them closer to me
and drank furtively.

My mind flashed onto when I saw Milo biting Jane and
how he had looked like an animal, and I knew that I was eating like
that, but I didn’t have a choice.

The pain stopped, then pleasure slowly trickled in.
Delirious heat spread over me. Pleasure exploded all through me,
and I drank more deeply. I could feel how kind they were, and the
acidic aftertaste from the adrenaline. They had been afraid, but
they weren’t now. They trusted me and cared about me, even though I
was drinking them dry.

Some part of me knew I should stop. I had already
drank enough where I would be alright, and it was almost more than
a human could spare.

But the rest of me refused. I
couldn’t stop. It felt too amazing and tasted too wonderful.
I
needed
this, and
I couldn’t stop, not until I had it all.

“Alice!” Jack shouted. A sharp pain grew in the back
of my head, but I didn’t care, not until that pain started pulling
me back. He was pulling me by my hair, so I’d let go, but I
wouldn’t, and if he pulled too hard, I would end up tearing out the
throat. “Alice! Let go!”

“Jack!” Milo wailed. “Make her stop!”

Jack kept pulling on me, and I literally growled at
him, like a dog with a bone. He wrapped his hand around my throat,
squeezing down on it. I couldn’t breathe, but more importantly, I
couldn’t swallow.

I let go, simply so I could bite Jack and get him to
leave me alone, but as soon as I separated, I could think again. I
felt dizzy and drunk, but I didn’t feel animal crazy anymore.

Jack didn’t know that though, so he wrapped his arms
around me to keep me from going after the blood. The neck had
already been pulled away from me. It had been the instant I had
stopped biting. Milo cradled Bobby in his arms, sobbing, and that’s
how I found out.

“Bobby?” I mumbled. The familiar tired haze I got
after eating settled in on me. My inner thigh tingled and itched
like crazy, meaning it was healing.

“You nearly killed him, Alice!” Milo yelled at
me.

“She had to do it, or she would’ve died!” Jack
shouted. He was still holding me in his arms, but more gently. He
just wanted me near him.

I wiped Bobby’s blood away from my mouth and tried to
sit up. We were on black top next to a white building, and when I
looked up, I realized it was a massive cathedral near the park.
Jack had carried me over here, away from the police, and fixed me
up.

I felt like passing out, but I was fighting it. We
weren’t safe here, not with the lycan after us, and I had to do
something.

I could hear Bobby’s heart beating, and it was still
strong, I hadn’t killed him, but he had completely passed out. Not
to mention the fact that he belonged to Milo, and vampires hated
sharing their humans with other vampires. Even though he loved me,
it had to be driving Milo crazy to let me bite him.

“I never should’ve let him come with.” Milo stroked
Bobby’s hair.

“That is
why
I let him come with,” Jack
said.

“What?” Milo glared at Jack. “You brought him along
to feed her?”

“He saved your sister’s life, didn’t he?” Jack shot
back. “She wouldn’t have died from the blood loss, but she’d have
been too weak to do anything against the lycan. She needs to be
strong to fight.”

“I’m sorry,” I apologized weakly. I tried to sit up
again, but that was all I had in me. Jack’s arms were strong and
warm, and I finally gave into them. Darkness rolled over me, and I
passed out.

I awoke on the floor. After everything I’d gone
through, I felt surprisingly good. When I opened my eyes, all I
could see were the beautiful gold and white ceilings of the
cathedral.

Bobby was lying next to me, sound asleep himself, and
I felt this strange pulling in my heart for him. Not like love or
even a crush, but just a connection. He had shared himself with me,
and in return, he’d gotten some of me as well. I had never fed on a
human before, and I was surprised to find that I felt anything for
him afterwards.

I didn’t have time to ponder the details of our
relationship, though, because I heard voices talking.

I got to my feet, still feeling kind of dazed and
drunk. We were in the balcony of the church, surrounded by pews and
crosses, and Jack, Milo, Peter, Ezra, and Olivia were standing at
the other end. They had been trying to let us sleep, which was
ridiculous. I needed to be awake and strong for this. Their voices
were hushed, and I tried to sneak over to them, but I stumbled and
bumped into a pew.

“Oh good. She’s awake,” Milo muttered, so apparently
he wasn’t ready to forgive me yet.

“What’s going on?” I asked when I reached them. They
stood in a circle, and I squeezed in between Jack and Ezra. “What
are you guys doing here?”

“We called them,” Jack said, and I couldn’t believe
that he’d called Peter. Ezra, I understood, but I was pretty sure
he hated Peter now more than ever. “We couldn’t get to the car
because of the police, and we didn’t want the lycan to follow us
back home.”

“I called Olivia because she’s the only one really
equipped to deal with them,” Ezra said.

“And I’d do anything for you, sweetheart,” Olivia
winked at me.

She wore leather pants and a tiny leather vest with
nothing underneath it. On top of that, she had donned some kind of
crossbow apparatus. The leather satchel on her back was filled to
the brim with metal arrows.

“Titanium is strong enough to break through a
vampire’s sternum and go right through the heart.” She saw me
admiring her weaponry and smiled. “The old wooden stake would never
work, and even this isn’t fool proof, but it’ll at least slow them
down.”

“Great,” I sighed and looked around. It dawned on me
that someone was missing. “Where’s Jane?” Jack pursed his lips and
nobody said anything. “Jack? What happened?”

“The lycan took her with them,” Jack said
quietly.

“Oh my god.” I ran my hands through my hair. “This is
a fucking nightmare.”

“We’ll get her back,” Peter promised. His green eyes
met mine, and I felt Jack bristle, but he did nothing. “We’ll make
the trade, me for her. They can’t deny it.”

“We are not sacrificing you,” Ezra said firmly.

“Why not?” Jack scoffed. “It’s his fault we’re in
this mess! He almost got Alice killed, and who knows what’s
happened to Jane!”

“We’re not giving them anybody,” Ezra said, looking
at Jack sternly. “We will stop them.”

“What if we can’t?” Peter asked. “We should all die
for my mistakes? No. I won’t let that happen. This is my fault.
This is my war.”

“We’re all involved in it now,” Ezra said. “Do you
think they’ll really just let us walk away if we give them you?
That would be too easy for them.”

“You should’ve just let me die in Finland!” Peter
shouted, his face raw with pain. “I told you to leave me there! Why
wouldn’t you listen?”

“I’m more than happy to let you die here,” Jack
offered.

“Nobody is dying here today!” I held up my hands to
silence them. “We’ll figure something out! I don’t know what but…
We’ll do something.”

“See? Firecracker,” Olivia smiled at me.

“We need a better plan than arguing with each other,”
Ezra said. “The lycan will track us soon.”

“Maybe sooner than you thought,” Olivia said, and she
reached back for her arrows.

As she set her crossbow, I peered down over the
balcony. A dirty, disheveled lycan was walking down the center of
the aisle of the church. I heard the click as she set it, and then
he looked back up at us, his brown eyes wide and innocent. I can’t
explain it, but as soon as I saw him, I knew he wasn’t with
them.

“Stop!” I shouted, my voice reverberating off the
ceilings, and I held my hand up in front of her crossbow. Leif
stood in the center of the church, staring up at us. He would
willingly take whatever fate we dealt him.

“What? Why?” Jack looked at me like I was crazy.

“No, she’s right,” Peter agreed. “He’s not like the
rest of them.”

“Leif!” I leaned over the balcony, as if I thought
that would help me speak to him.

“I’m not with them!” Leif yelled back. “I came here
to warn you! It’ll be harder for them to find you with me. I’m the
best tracker they have, but you’re so close, and Stellan tasted
your blood. I’ve beat them by a matter of minutes.”

“Why would you help us?” Ezra asked. Leif looked at
Ezra for a moment, then looked back at me.

“Really?” Milo scoffed. “Does every vampire in the
whole world want to tap my sister?”

That wasn’t it, and I knew that, but I couldn’t
explain it. There was nothing sexual about the way Leif looked at
me, and I wasn’t even remotely attracted to him. It was something
else entirely.

“No, I don’t want to … ‘tap’ anyone,” Leif looked
unsure of the word. “I’ve just had enough. They are cruel and
sadistic, and I’ve seen that vampires can live another way. I don’t
want to stay with them anymore. They shouldn’t even be alive. They
are abominations.”

“How do you propose we stop them?” Ezra asked.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Leif said sadly. “But I
will help you anyway I can. Even if you just want me to bait them.
If I can save you, I will do it.”

“Do you trust him?” Jack looked seriously at me.

“Yes,” I said, and Peter nodded in agreement.

“I think he’s okay,” Milo said.

“Hey, how did you find Jane?” I asked, looking down
at Leif. It made sense to me that they’d be able to find me since
they had met me before, but I didn’t understand how they’d even
know she was associated with us.

“She was wearing your clothes walking around
downtown,” Leif said, sounding ashamed. “I smelled you on her. We
tracked you down to Minneapolis by asking around. Gunnar knew
people that knew Ezra.” His face flushed guiltily. “I never
should’ve come with, but if I hadn’t they would’ve killed me, and
they still would’ve killed you. When we got on the boat, though, I
knew I had to find a way to help you. That was a complete
massacre.”

“Oh my gosh.” My jaw dropped as it
hit me. “That was
you
? On the tanker that crashed into Newfoundland?”

“I’m not proud of what they did, and I will pay for
my sins,” Leif raised his chin when he looked at me. “I assure you
that I will make amends.”

The cathedral echoed with the sound of broken glass,
but Leif stood his ground. The stained glass windows shattered,
sending bits of broken glass raining down all around him, as the
lycan crashed in through them. The lycan walked slowly in the pews
towards him with Gunnar leading the way.

- 35 –

“Bear told me you were Judas,” Gunnar said to Leif.
“I thought he might be right, but I knew that you would still lead
us right to them. You failed at killing them and at saving them.
You’re absolutely useless, aren’t you?”

“Dying now would be far better than serving you,”
Leif growled at him.

“Stop!” I shouted, hanging over the balcony. The
lycan already knew we were there, so it wasn’t like I was giving
away our position, but Jack glared at me anyway. “He’s not the one
you want!”

“You have no idea what I want,” Gunnar looked up at
me. His face was that of pure evil, and a shiver ran down me.

He walked to the center aisle, and the other three
lycan moved in closer to Leif, but he didn’t run. They were going
to slaughter him, but he just stood his ground and held his head
high.

“They’re going to kill him,” I said, looking at Ezra.
“We’ve got to do something!”

He looked at me helplessly. We hadn’t yet figured out
how we were going to save ourselves. Jack was looking down at Leif,
and I could almost see his mind racing. He wanted to think of
something, but he was taking too long.

I launched myself over the balcony and heard Jack
calling my name. When I hit the ground, I expected my legs to snap,
but they barely even hurt. I even landed on my feet, and if the
situation weren’t so incredibly terrifying, I would’ve felt pretty
damn cool for making a landing like that.

None of the lycan looked back at me, but then again,
I wasn’t much of a threat. I stood up and I heard the sound of
Olivia’s crossbow click back as she loaded an arrow, but I wasn’t
the only one.

Dodge and Stellan cocked their heads at the balcony,
but Bear kept his attention fixed on Leif. Dodge moved first, but
he wasn’t as fast as Stellan, so the arrow sliced straight through
his heart. He collapsed to the ground, and I thought he might burst
into flames like in the movies, but he just laid there.

Stellan was standing in front of me, smiling, and in
a blur, he was gone. Olivia fired an arrow at him, but it flew
through the air behind him and landed in a pew. Using his speed as
momentum, Stellan leapt from off the back of a pew up into the
balcony. No other vampire moved as fast as he could, not even Ezra,
and even with the five of them up there, they could barely hold
their own against him.