“I don’t know, but we have to get out of here,” Amy said, already headed toward the door, but I stopped her.
“Amy, there’s something that you should know,” I said, looking into her eyes.
“Leila, we have to get out of here …”
“Someone is after the baby,” I blurted out.
“What?”
I turned around to look at Kellen, who was standing with his fists clenched by his side.
“In New York, someone compelled Lance’s driver to take me to Central Park, but I got away and two of Lance’s men stopped him before he could take me to them,” I said, following Amy to the door.
“Okay,” Amy said, then ran quicker than human speed behind a counter and pulled out a very large curved knife that resembled a handheld sickle. “Stay close and we’ll protect you.” Then, she looked over at Kellen. “Are you up for this?”
I carefully stepped around the bodies lying on the floor, writhing in flames around us, as if we had just stepped into a living picture of Dante’s Hell. Kellen pulled me back and Amy rushed to the door just as another vampire rushed in, growling, when someone pulled his head back from behind. A moment later, his head was removed from his body. When the body fell away, Charlotte was holding his head in her hand by the hair, and then dropped it. It blazed as it rolled across the floor.“No!” I said, backing away.“Charlotte, good,” Amy said, shoving me toward her. “Help me get her to Lance.”“Yes,” Charlotte said innocently, reaching out to me. “Let me help you …”“No, Leila’s right!” Kellen yelled, pulling me behind him. “She’s a traitor!”“Charlotte? A traitor?” Amy asked, confused.“Yes, she is! Amy, she tried to co
“Okay, that’s enough,” he said, pulling my arm until I was on my feet.“Let me go!” I yelled. Then, Garrett picked me up off the ground and carried me to the waiting limo, and shoved me inside. Amy slid into the backseat on the other side of me, Charlotte slid into the front passenger’s seat, and Garrett slid behind the wheel of the limo. “Let me go! When Lance finds me, he’s going to kill all of you!”“Shut up about your precious Lance!” Charlotte said, slapping me hard on the cheek across the seat.“Don’t hurt her,” Amy said. “I can’t lose my test subject. I’m tired of being my own guinea pig.”“Yes, you most certainly are a pig,” I agreed angrily.Amy grabbed a chunk of my blonde hair and yanked my head back. “Shut up or I’ll kill you … now!”“No, you won’t,” I corrected calmly.
Charlotte laughed so hard that tears sprang to her eyes. “And how, pray tell, do you plan to do that?”“I’ll find a way,” I walked over to the chair and sat down at the small table. “Tell me, why did you kill Steven?”“How very perceptive of you!” Charlotte said, clasping her hands together excitedly.“Well, I was the one who killed him, actually,” Garrett said as a smirk played on his lips.“Yes, well, at my insistence, of course.” Charlotte walked over to his side and ran her hand over his chest.“Why?”“Well, after I happened to find you in the alley with those thugs, you said that you were following a scent,” Charlotte said, sitting on the chair across from me at the small table. “I knew it was blood, so I just put two and two together. The only time that humans crave blood is when they’re pregnant with a dhampir child. It wa
Garrett obeyed, stepping into the center of the warehouse. He took his clothes off and stood stark naked in the middle of the room. Before I could object, he bent over slightly and his body began to contort and morph. His face protruded outward into a muzzle as he doubled over, and his hands turned into massive paws just before they touched the floor. A moment later, a giant brown wolf was standing in the center of the room before me, snarling, growling menacingly.“You’re werewolves,” I said in disbelief. Why the hell not? I had already met vampires and witches. Why not werewolves, too? Abruptly, I realized that I had been living a blissfully sheltered life.The brown wolf growled.“Although we are werewolves, we can change at will,” Leo said as a smile played on his lips. “That wasn’t always the case, but I developed a serum.”“And what do you want with my baby?” I asked, trying to fit all the
“Yes, well, not if our men find him first,” Charlotte said, her eyes flaring. “After he’s eliminated, then his coven will follow, after we make them all human. Then, there will be no one left to stop us.”“If you really loved him,” I said, “then you would let me go … for him.”“Nice try,” she said, leaning back in her chair again.Just then, Amy walked into the room, carrying a tray, and set it on the table. There were three blood bags lying on it and a covered plate. I didn’t care what was under the plate. I grabbed one of the blood bags, shoved a straw in the side of the bag and drained it.“My, my,” Charlotte said, reaching for one of the blood bags, too. “Aren’t we hungry?”Ignoring her, I quickly reached for the other blood bag and downed it, moaning as the luscious liquid filled my system. The baby stirred in my stomach, happy for the
I woke and looked around. It was pitch black and I could barely see my hand in front of my face. I wondered why they hadn’t kept a light on, but then I realized that vampires could see perfectly in the dark. Suddenly, a sharp pain jabbed my stomach. I ran a hand along my stomach and tried to sit up, but another sharp sting gripped me, punching me from within. I could feel that some of my ribs had cracked. “Uuuhhh!!” I screamed out, holding my ribs as I lay back onto the hospital bed.Within a moment, cold hands were on my forehead. “What happened?” Yes, it was Amy.I said nothing.“Leila, you have to tell me when you’re hurting,” she said in a low voice, “for the baby.”Someone took a deep breath, standing not far away. “What’s wrong with her?” It was Charlotte. Amy and I weren’t alone.“I’m sure that she’s fine,” Amy said, pushing me back ag
With thrusts of his hand, he slammed werewolves against the wall without touching them, using his telekinesis as he marched purposefully across the room with his eyes locked on Charlotte.Amy pulled me behind her, fighting off a werewolf that had leapt toward us. She fought valiantly, ripping off heads with her sickle and ripping out hearts as blood sprayed across the room.Suddenly, Drake entered the room with his fists doubled at his sides, dressed in a black T-shirt, black jeans with boots. He took off a werewolf’s head in one swift movement, and threw another against the wall, then turned to take on more.Lance was halfway across the room from Charlotte, glaring at her menacingly, when a werewolf jumped at him, but Lance hit him effortlessly, sending him flying across the room and crashing into a far wall. Then, Lance looked over at him and squeezed his hands tightly and the werewolf gasped, unable to breathe, until he finally passed out and turned int
Immediately, something went around my waist and I was being lifted. I looked over and Lance was holding me up so that Amy could slide a heart monitor around me for the baby. Suddenly, a quick flutter beeped into the air. “Is he okay?” I asked, barely conscious. “Lance … the baby … is he okay?”“Shush … he’s fine, honey. Hang in there,” Lance said, and then held his wrist up to my lips again. “Drink, Leila. God! I’m begging you, drink! You’ve lost too much blood. You need my blood to heal yourself! Drink!”“Aaahhhhaaaa!” I moaned, trying to grip my stomach, but I was too weak to raise my arm. This was different than normal labor, I could tell. Everything was too quick and too painful. “Lance?” I asked, between contractions.“I’m right here, baby! Stay with me,” Lance said, still holding his wrist to my lips as tears filled his eyes. &ld