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“Fine. When you get shot up because you don’t know how to protect yourself like I taught you, don’t come crying to me.”
“I won’t get shot, old man. Drop. The. Wall.”
Marko growled, but dropped his hand. The shots were immediate. I felt my skin thicken as I forced myself to rush forward as fast as I could. Men scattered, but they were like fish in a barrel. I grabbed two, throwing one toward Marko as I drug the other back. The air rippled again and I didn’t wait as I let my fangs plunge into the soldier’s neck.
Flashes of his life began to blind me and like Marko had taught me, I pushed them away, focusing on the human’s pulse. Warmth gushed into my mouth, so sweet that I moaned at the flavor. Marko hadn’t fed in three days, but it had been longer for me. Four? Five? I couldn’t remember anymore.
An explosion sent ringing into my ears and I knew I was flying through the air. The connection against the wall left air bursting from my lungs. And heat. Yes, was I on fire?”
The high pitch sound wavered and loud yells began to break through. I blinked, seeing men rush upon us. My head jerked to the side and I scrambled to Marko’s body, grabbing his wrist as I faded us out. The panic left my adrenaline going, giving me enough strength to will us away, but I’d only ever made myself disappear, and only a handful of times in the last few days.
Gravity was nonexistent and my free arm flailed as the floor to the city was suddenly underneath us. The drop was a good thirty feet down and I knew we were going to hit hard.
“Shit!” My voice echoed around me as I braced myself for the impact. Just as I was sure it was coming, we were suddenly hovering an arm’s length away. Footsteps were rushing in our direction and I grunted as we landed the two feet to the floor.
“What happened?” Mistress Price reached for Marko, lowering to her knees as she flipped him over.
“RPG, I think. Fuck I don’t know. We were already weak. He needs blood. Yours. You must feed him. He needs all the strength he can get. Aetas will be here in an hour. They know about us. They mean to kill you all and take me and Marko to lockdown.”
“No.” Mistress Price’s eyes were wide as she looked around at the vampires crowding in. “We must get him better. We have to leave immediately. Where will we go?”
“Not L.A.. Damn place is overrun with military.”
“Dallas?” Niko cut his wrist, placing it before me. I stood, throwing him an appreciative look as I brought it to my lips. The power was so much more than what the human provided. I drank him in deep, feeling my wounds heal almost instantly. My strength surged back through and I watched Marko wake up and clutch to the Mistress’s wrist as he stared in my direction.
For minutes we fed and watched each other. We didn’t need words to communicate our thoughts. He knew I had saved his life, and the proof of my loyalty was one he had needed to see. And, I was getting stronger. We were a team. Just as much mates as we were with Tessa.
“We must go,” Marko said, breaking away from her wrist.
“Dallas?” I wiped the blood from my chin as I followed his suit.
“They will expect that. We go to no cities. We need somewhere closer, but secluded.”
I scoured my thoughts, grinning as the answer became clear.
“The City of the Dead. What place is closer to Axis than that? We’ll be within the walls. No one will ever think to check there. And we’ll be in.”
Marko hesitated for only a moment before he returned my grin. “You’re a fucking genius, my friend. To the City of the Dead.”
Chapter 38
Marko
I swore I would never come back here. That I would avoid the City of the Dead for as long as I could manage. Being faced with the memorial that had kept me imprison for nearly two months was almost unbearable. It was like facing a nightmare I couldn’t escape. But Hunter was right. This was the safest place for our kind. No military would ever be able to breach Axis, and here, we were within reach to both Aetas and Tessa. It didn’t mean we could drop our guard. Even through the city was miles wide and we resided at the far reaches, we stayed on alert at all times. Three days now, to be exact.
“You okay?”
Hunter’s voice had me taking a deep breath as I nodded.
“Yeah. I just had to see it again. You know, face yours fears, so they say.”
“You were bad off when we found you. Real bad.”
My eyes closed as I tried to stop my jaw from clamping down at the memories.
“It was hell. Absolute fucking hell.”
Hunter’s steps grew closer and I glanced over as he became even with me. “You’ll never have to worry about it again. We will not lose. We can’t.”
