AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Seeing me seemed to help Cal focus. He concentrated on keeping Mr. Marchand’s back to me, which kept his movements controlled, his anger in check. He swung, connecting his fist with Marchand’s nose. The old man’s head snapped back, and he stumbled. He snarled, advancing and kicking Cal’s legs out from under him. Cal landed on the grass with a thwump. He rolled as Mr. Marchand scissor-kicked down, just missing Cal’s solar plexus. But as he rolled, it shifted Mr. Marchand toward me, his back still turned.
When he was within leaping range, I launched myself at Mr. Marchand’s back. I wrapped my arm around his neck and my legs around his waist, clinging to him like a koala on crank.
Cal yelled, “Iris, no!”>Gigi protested. “I’m not leaving you.”
“Yes, you are. Now, get out of here.”
“But—but,” she spluttered. As she stalled, I saw John’s eyes narrow at us over Mr. Marchand’s shoulder. He tried to push past Mr. Marchand, to stop the kids, but the older vampire grabbed him and shoved him back into place with a thundering “Listen when I’m talking to you!”
“No buts.” I shoved her toward Ben. “Get her out of here now. Gigi, I love you, move it.”
Gigi hesitated, but Ben dragged her away. Her stiff, achy legs caught and stumbled, and he helped her to her feet. Mr. Marchand and John were full-on grappling now, with John yelling, “The younger one’s getting away, you fool!” I crept carefully over to Cal’s slumped form. One of the syringes stuck out from the cooler bag at an odd angle, the label catching my eye. VEE BALM. I snatched, snagged another capped needle, and jammed them into my pocket.
I bent to examine Cal’s cuffs, moving slowly so I wouldn’t attract the other vampires’ attention. The restraints were held together without locks, a rather ingenious but cruel invention. I just had to slide solid pins of silver out of the cuffs to release his wrists. Cal could have freed himself easily, if he could bear to touch the metal.
“What are you doing?” he asked, slurring softly.
“Getting us out of here. Can you walk?”
He nodded, then bent to unwind the wire around his ankles. I pulled out the syringe of Vee Balm.
“I’m sorry about this,” I whispered, jabbing the needle into his neck and pushing the plunger. Cal hissed, glaring up at me as the chemicals spread through his blood-stream. I grimaced and showed him the syringe label. “It’s going to help.”
I knelt and patted his calves, feeling for his sword. “Where’s the holster?”
“They took it off of me the moment they captured me,” he said, his voice hoarse and tired.
“Now?” I squeaked. “We’re in an actual combat situation, and you don’t have your sword now?”
“You’re not in a combat situation,” he told me. “You are in a running-and-hiding situation.”
“I won’t leave you,” I insisted, echoing Gigi’s stubborn belligerence.
Standing on unsteady legs, he forced me to my feet and cupped my chin in his hand. “Yes, you will.”
“Don’t make me—”
“If you love me at all, you will leave right now.”
“That’s not fair, Cal.”
“It isn’t,” he agreed. “But you’ll forgive me eventually. Now, go.”
I nodded, digging my fingers into the bloodied material of his shirt and yanking him to me so I could lay a hot, desperate kiss on his lips. The metallic tang of polluted donor blood clung to his mouth, but I pressed close, drank him in, unsure of whether I would see him again, feel him next to me. His freed hands locked around my face, caressing my cheeks, tracing the tear tracks he found there.
“Go,” he whispered, pushing me away.
And in a flicker of movement, he was gone, running across the lawn toward the arguing vampires. Swiping at my eyes, I ran around the house, ducking behind an arbor when I sensed movement in the trees. I crept through the long, purple shadows, keeping my back against the house. I wondered if Gigi had made it to Ben’s car. I wondered if I could sneak into Marchand’s house to use his phone or steal some car keys or if it would be better just to stay there, hiding in the dark … which seemed to be the direction that the weak, numbed muscles in my legs were leaning toward.
Outside was better, I told myself. In the house, I could be trapped, dragged into closets and small spaces. Outside, it was harder to sneak up behind me. I rounded a corner of the foundation to find John hovering over me, smiling sweetly.
Sneaking up in front of me, on the other hand, seemed to be pretty easy.
Sidestepping me in a blur of motion, John wrapped the length of my hair around his fist and yanked me close, nuzzling the place where my neck and shoulder joined and leaving a cold, wet spot on my skin. Inhaling deeply, he leered down at me, then dragged me off to a remote corner of the garden, under an arch of wisteria. Settling near a worn stone bench, he spun me, pinning my hips with his hands as he pressed against my back. It would have been quite a romantic spot if I didn’t have a clear view of Mr. Marchand destroying Cal’s laptop with a shovel.
My heart sank. Having already received the same treatment as his laptop, Cal was sprawled across the grass. John’s nimble fingers plucked at my shirt as he ground against my ass.
“Marchand has what he needs. Your friend Mr. Calix is as good as dead. I thought you might want to enjoy the show before we start our fun and games.”
