Unseen (11 page)

He closed and locked the door, then headed for the bedroom. Trina had dumped him on the couch, but after Doug had found him torn and bleeding from Luis’s visit, he’d moved him into the bedroom. He hadn’t done it so much for comfort as for safety. The living room was too close to the front door and wouldn’t provide much of a challenge for a newbie. But if he was in the bedroom and had to maneuver himself around a corridor, he probably wouldn’t get far. When a new vamp awoke, he was disoriented for at least a few hours after first waking, and in some cases, it could last for days. It depended on how young and strong the person was—both the one who made the vamp, and the one who’d been turned.

Luis only bothered to give his victims enough blood to make them, and then he dumped them aside, so most of them ended up feral. Doug couldn’t afford for this one to be that way and was determined to teach him a few things. Hopefully, he’d be a better student than Cell had.

Of course, Doug would’ve preferred to keep him by his side for at least a few months to teach him the ropes, but he had a feeling his time was running out fast. And if he could just give this guy one crucial piece of advice, he already knew what it was.

“Hey, Zeke, wake up!” The name badge was still pinned on the man’s bloody shirt. When all he did was murmur and cover his face, Doug pulled his arms away and slapped him in the face a few times.

“What the hell’s going on?” Zeke opened one eye and then the other. When he saw Doug in the room, he quickly rose to his knees and only then noticed his arms were covered in blood. “Okay.” He swallowed. “What the hell happened to me, and who the hell are
you?
”

Doug held both palms up in front of him. “I’m not here to hurt you. I want to help you get used to your new . . . existence.”

“My new what?
And why the hell is there blood all over me?”

Doug sighed. This part was never fun. He’d never felt the need to turn anyone else into the creature he was forced to be, so he’d rarely had to explain the ropes before. To become as disciplined and levelheaded as he was had taken a lot of work. There had been many years of isolation and starvation before he could control his inner vampire and live his life as he dictated it, not as the condition demanded.

“You were attacked the other night.”

“I was?” Zeke looked at his hands as if they belonged to someone else. “Is that why I feel different?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t remember . . .”

When his voice trailed off, Doug asked, “What’s the last thing you
do
remember?”

Zeke looked thoughtful for a while. “Uh, I remember going to work.
Then hanging out with Millie, and . . . Trina.
Oh, my God, they’re both okay, aren’t they?”

“Yes, they’re fine,” Doug assured him. “You weren’t so lucky. There’s no easy way to say this, so welcome to the night. You’re now a vampire.”

Zeke burst out laughing, but when Doug didn’t laugh with him, he stopped and frowned. “You’re bloody kidding, right? This is a joke and someone poured tomato sauce all over me, right?”

“I’m afraid not. You were attacked and made into a vampire. Touch your neck and feel the bite marks. Your maker wasn’t any kinder than mine was.” Doug flashed the wounds he’d carried for centuries. His own had never healed because some makers were selfish that way. They liked to leave their permanent marks so others of their kind would know who’d made them.

Luis can be such a bastard. He loves to mark us all.

Zeke collapsed back on the bed. His fingers reached for his neck, but as soon as he touched the twin wounds, he removed them. “I can’t believe this. It can’t be real.”

“First, it is real. Second, I don’t have much time, but if you hope to survive, I need to give you the basics, okay?”

“The basics?” the other man whispered, looking vacantly into space.

“Yes, the basics. The first thing you need to know is that you can never,
ever
see Trina again. Actually, it’s best if you find a new place to live, but it’s imperative that you don’t get her attention.”

Zeke looked up and met his gaze. “Why?”

“Because if she sees what you’ve become, she’ll kill you before you have a chance to realize what’s happening,” he said impatiently. He had a lot to teach this newbie, and the clock was ticking. “Now, I need you to shut up and listen to everything I’ve got to say. Otherwise, time will run out and we’ll both be screwed.”

Zeke regarded him with a confused expression. “I don’t understand any of this.”

“I know you don’t, but if you shut up and listen to everything I’ve got to say, I’ll give you some of my blood afterwards.”

Zeke’s dark eyes suddenly glistened with hunger, and he nodded.

I knew that would get his attention.

Doug quickly started lecturing on Vampire 101, hoping this would allow Zeke to live. He was sick and tired of his maker stealing so many lives.

Chapter Twelve

Trina’s legs pumped beneath her. The thump of her boots against the pavement echoed around her. The old bastard had ducked between another
row
of apartment blocks. It was like a concrete city in here. Wherever she turned, a new orange building appeared. If she hadn’t been able to hear the echo of the vamp’s every step ahead of her, she would’ve already lost him.

Instead, she followed his elongated shadow at every turn and let her instincts lead the way. These vamps were all the same—pathetic to the very end. They thought they could outwit anyone, but she loved the fact they always underestimated her. It gave her a greater degree of satisfaction when she was able to take them out with a smile on her face.

A moment later she realized that while she’d been busy thinking about other people’s cocky attitude, she should’ve paid some attention to hers as well, because, just as she rounded the next corner, something struck the back of her head.

Instead of ending up in a submissive position by falling to her knees, she stumbled. The momentum helped Trina keep her balance long enough to push off the brick wall.

She swung around. When a fist came from out of nowhere and impacted with her cheek, she ducked to miss the second strike. Then she threw herself against the vampire’s back when he turned to run away. She piggybacked him, holding on tightly to his rigid shoulders, refusing to let go for even a moment.

“Get off me, bitch!” he ordered

She couldn’t help snickering. He’d struck out of
nowhere,
forcing her to lose her concentration, yet now he was resorting to insults because she’d just stolen the upper hand.
Typical.

“Is that the best you can come up with?” she goaded.

“The best is yet to come,” Luis spat. “You have no idea what kind of legendary status I’m going to establish for myself when everyone finds out I turned the vampire bogeyman into one of us.”

“I don’t think you’re going to get the chance.”

Luis spun around, making her lose her bearings. It wasn’t until her spine was shoved against the brick wall that she realized what he’d done. He had her pinned and was squashing the air out of her. At the end of the day, she might not be entirely human, but unlike vamps, she needed to breathe. Right now she had a hard time gulping in one breath.

“I can stand here all night, waiting for your last breath,” he told her, pressing back even harder against her.

Yes, he could, but she wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction. While she tried to come up with a plan, she sucked in a shallow breath, and her lungs burned from the effort, causing black spots to dance in front of her eyes.

Trina sucked in another painful breath, while summoning as much strength as she could.
Then she head-butted the back of his skull.
It hurt like hell and blood instantly dribbled from both her nose and mouth, but it had the desired effect. Luis stumbled forward just enough for her to slide off his back and regain her footing.

She bent over, sucking in as many rapid breaths as she could through her ruined nose.

Luis turned to face her. “You’re like a cockroach, aren’t you?” His eyes were shiny in the dark. “I’ve heard that you’re really hard to kill, but I’m not going to let you get away from me.”

“What makes you think you’re better than all the others who’ve tried before you?” She grinned at him. This moron wasn’t the first one to think he was stronger and smarter than all the other vampires. Sometimes it felt as if they all wanted a piece of her just so they could get the bragging rights. She didn’t mind because such stupidity usually became their undoing, and she’d use it against him, just like she’d done a thousand times before.

Luis stood very still, considering her, as if he was trying to come up with a response to her question.

She took the opportunity to rush him and had her foot in the air before he knew what was coming. The crunch of his cheekbone echoed around the walls of the looming buildings. She quickly followed up the kick with another to his right knee. He tumbled forward, landing on the knee she’d just managed to snap.

“You’re going to regret that, bitch,” he said through gritted teeth, obviously pissed. He pushed off the ground and leapt up into the air before she had a chance to react.

Trina held up her left forearm to protect her already injured face, and Luis sank his teeth into her skin. Not just his fangs, though they were deeply embedded into her flesh, but all of his teeth. She fought to push him off, but no matter how much she squirmed and hit him wherever she could, she couldn’t dislodge him. He was like a lock-jawed, feral animal.

She drew in a deep breath, trying to calm herself long enough to figure out a way to get him off her without having to amputate her own arm. In the end, she gritted her teeth and forcibly ripped it away from his mouth. Burning pain raced up her arm, numbing it. Blood splattered all over his face, and he licked his lips, smiling.

“Now I’ve got you.” Luis advanced, but she tripped him by sweeping a foot beneath both of his. She moved out of his way as he lost his balance and fell back against the wall. He might have a ruined leg, but he was still strong and wouldn’t give up. She knew that.

Trina grabbed hold of his right arm, swiveled him around and lifted it against his back. Holding him steady, with her injured arm, she grabbed her wooden stake and pulled it from the small of her back with her other shaky and bloody hand. Her arm hurt like hell, and a bit of flesh flapped to and fro, even beneath the long sleeves of her top and jacket because he’d managed to tear them off too, but she still managed to hold him in place as she raised the stake into the air. She didn’t have a choice.

“You’re not going to get the chance to tell this story,” she said, striking him with her weapon.

It grazed his cheek and clothes on the way down but she hadn’t used enough strength, or maybe he was just too fast. Before Trina knew what was happening, Luis slipped out of her grasp and disappeared. The wooden stake clattered as it landed on the concrete. The only thing left to show that he’d been here at all were his limping, retreating footsteps.

“Fuck!”
This is all I need, to have this freak out there stalking me in the shadows for another night.
This was supposed to be over. Maybe if she’d had the backup she’d headed out with, they might have achieved that goal together. Not that Trina needed help, but she had to admit it would’ve come in handy. Besides, after Doug turned up at her place, and then walked down the street holding her hand, she’d started to feel an inkling of camaraderie toward him. She had enjoyed his company—something she wasn’t supposed to enjoy from anyone. Caring about people only made her weaker, provided for a distraction she didn’t want or need. A distraction that nearly got her killed tonight.

So where was Doug now?
she wondered as she stood there, breathing heavily and sucking in as much of the cold air as she could, all the while listening, smelling and allowing her senses to feel their way around the vibrations surrounding her. She needed to make sure Luis wasn’t just playing around and would jump out to attack her when she least expected it.

Seconds ticked over into minutes, and still she felt and heard nothing. She was totally alone. He’d done the runner, and there was nothing she could do about it.
For now.

Trina lifted her arm and inspected the bite wound. Blood had seeped through the fabric of her top and jacket, but now they flapped in the wind with her torn skin. She needed to clean it, bandage it up nice and tight so it would set into another scar and not get infected.