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  A black beast closed in beside us from the shoulder. The hunkering four-wheel drive matched our speed. I closed my mouth, ending the sound.

  Movement came from my left, another glistening black four-wheel drive crowded the car. The little howl ended. I wrenched my head, left and right. The Vampire said nothing, but a cold unease settled in the air.

  The undead glanced into the rearview mirror, and this time I followed, twisting in my seat to stare into the red GMC letters on the grille. The truck lunged, gently bumping the back of the sedan.

  My pulse sped as I stared through the window. Zadoc? Could it be that Marine—the amputee—or her team? A smile slipped across my lips as a squeal vibrated from the little dragon, dragging the tempo high as she called for her mother.

  The sedan braked, throwing me forward. I slammed my hand into the back of the passenger’s seat and grasped the crib. The black truck in front slowed, boxing us in.

  “We’re getting out of here,” I whispered and pulled them close. “We’re getting out of here.”

  The sedan’s engine throbbed as we slowed and pulled up in the middle of the road. I tried to find the familiar, but we were miles away from anything I knew. My thoughts turned to Joslyn, and darkened. I had to hope they made it to the hospital. I had to hope she was okay.

  Doors opened on the vehicle in front. The truck beside us eased backwards, leaving access to the driver’s side door of the sedan. Three men climbed out, moving with slow mechanical movements and ramrod spines. My stomach tightened. These men weren’t dragons, humans, or wolves. They were more of our abductor’s kind.

  “Friends of yours?” Uncertain words slipped from my lips.

  He never answered, only stared through the windshield as the Vampires closed in. A low snarl slipped from his lips, and the old adage came to mind—the enemy of my enemy, is my friend.

  They moved in like a viral infection, swamping all sides of the sedan. Dark, bottomless eyes found our abductor, never giving me a first glance. But there was something about the one in front, something that stood out from the two who flanked his side. There was an air of elegance around him. The gold medallion glinted as he turned. The markings too far away for me to see, but it was important enough to wear on the outside of his shirt. It was worn with pride, like a badge of honor.

  One to be obeyed.

  Our abductor grasped the handle and yanked, leaving the door wide as he left the car.

  My heart hammered. I glanced to the trucks blocking us in, and then to the crib. The wheels were so close to the door I could see the wear patterns on the tires.

  I leaned over and judged the distance between the wheel guard and the door. No way. I’d barely crack the door before it’d hit. That left only one way out. I glanced to the driver’s door, and then found the piece of shit standing near the edge of the hood.

  They spoke in low murmurs. Leaning in, trailing each word with a snarl. Their threatening tone turned my insides to water. I glanced to the open door and licked dry lips.

  “We can make it,” I whispered and turned to the babies. “We can make it. What do you say?”

  The dragon growled and ruffled her scales. Spines stood upright along her spike.

  “So it’s like that, is it?” I muttered with dull words devoid of emotion.

  I cast a glance at the Vampires outside. My mind was racing, picking apart the seconds, weighing the babies in my mind, and counting the distance to safety.

  I needed Zadoc. I needed the Marines. I needed the biggest, baddest creatures I could find—and I needed them now.

  Seconds ticked, heartbeats followed. Time was a vicious bitch that waited for no one. I swallowed hard and reached for the Dragon. Her tail whipped. Pain bit, slashing along my wrist. The skin opened, peeling away. I bit down, gripped her little body and dragged her to my chest. She stared at me with dark brown eyes.

  “I’m trying to help you,” I snapped, and closed my eyes with the wave of agony. My breaths were fast, stealing the moisture from my lips.

  Her tail smacked my stomach. The razored tip sliced my clothes. Her little mouth opened wide, revealing the tiniest row of needle like teeth and snapped shut like a damn trap.

  I grasped her brother and pulled him close, both babies nose to nose. “There, that should keep you quiet.”

  I gripped the back of the driver’s seat and held on for dear life. My hamstring pulled taut as I wrenched my foot high.

  “By the order of the Prince,” came the command from outside.

  My heel gouged leather as I slid one leg between the seats.

  A sickening snap tore through the open door. I stilled, and lifted my gaze. My abductor wobbled…that was the only thought that came to mind. The Vampire wobbled…and then crumpled to the ground.

  Gold glinted as the undead commander turned and stared at me. Jesus….Jesus…There was a heartbeat before the two at his side lunged, falling to his feet. A hunk of flesh cut through the air, followed with another and then another.

  Something hit the hood with a thud and I dropped my gaze. White bones stuck out from the casting of his skin. I tracked the meat to the sharpened nail at the end of his finger.

  I yanked my focus high, meeting the killer’s eyes. Body parts were cast high into the air. The thick-knotted strands of a small intestine followed. Seconds, that was all it took—mere seconds before the two Vampires rose from their knees. Red marred perfect white shirts. I swallowed…swallowed again, and dragged my foot back to the rear seat.

  A cry tore from the wolf in my arms. “Shh, it’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”

  They were the good guys. The enemy of my enemy and all that shit.

  One nod of their commander and a Vampire soldier moved, striding toward the open door. I shoved my heels into the floor of the car, driving my body against the crib.

  We’re okay… We’re okay.

  The soldier slid into the driver’s seat and closed the door. The rush of my breaths drowned out the sound, until the sickening stench of blood hit me.

  My lungs stilled. My stomach clamped. Acid rose in the back of my throat. I’d nursed my fair share of the sick and the dying, wading through vomit, diarrhea, and every blood disease known to man.

  I’d been speckled with brain matter, coated with blood…but I’d never smelled anything so fetid as I did then.

  The bitter stench was more like bile, but dark red. Not alive, the words filled my head. They weren’t alive. Whatever it was, this undead thing was coated with it. Droplets splattered the side of his face and dripped from his ear…how do you get blood in your ear?

  The black beast in front pulled away, as did the one to the side. The sedan lunged forward, shoving me against the plastic crib.

  “Take us back.” I hated the tremble. “Take us back to the clinic.”

  He turned to stare at me. Black irises bled into red, narrowing in and then blowing out as if he was a junkie, high on something I’d never seen before, and I was transfixed by the sight.

  I tightened my hold, pulling wriggling bodies into me as the car picked up speed.

  He focused on the road, spearing off from the others as we hit the highway. Trees replaced houses, blending into a blur of green. The engine throbbed, filling the car with the sound.

  “We were abducted. The Dragon…” I tried to find the words. “He’ll come for us. They’ll all come for us.” Trees…trees that blurred. Goddamn trees. “Take me back. Please just take me back. They’ll understand. I’ll make them understand.”

  The side of the crib cracked. I shifted my ass against the seat. Minutes flashed by, unfamiliar roads wound through a mountain and down the other side. Maybe he was taking us someplace safe? Maybe he was taking us to their Prince?

  “This Prince, your Prince.” I scrambled for a thread. If I could just get him talking, just get him to see us as people. “What’s his name?”

  I caught the flinch in the corner of his eye.

  “I could talk to him. Find out what he wants?
Maybe we could make a deal?”

  Deathly silence wasn’t something you heard. It was something you felt. It was an absence, a void—an empty carcass sitting in front of you.

  “I have money, if that’s what you want. It’s not a lot, but it’s enough to pull the car over, and look the other way.”

  “We do not need your money, Doctor.” His clinical tone filled the space. “I do not need your money. We need time, that is all. Neither you, nor the babies will be harmed.”

  My scattered thoughts tried to grasp the reason. Time? “Why? Time for what? Why did you take me?”

  He found me in the rearview mirror. “Take you? No, Doctor. We were the ones who saved you.”

  “Saved me?” My throat stung as I snarled.

  Saved me? I wanted to reach for the gouges on my neck. I wanted to gather the image of Joslyn’s savaged throat and shove them down his. I wanted to hurt him, to maim him…to render him helpless…like his kind rendered me.

  My throat burned with raw words. “Save me from who?” Silence, empty goddamn silence. I clenched my fist and punched the seat. “Save me from who?”

  My knuckles ached. My throat stung. Hate burned, riding the edge of hysteria. A purr echoed from the crook of my arm. Dark eyes followed my every move. She’d stopped with her tail, leaving the bottom half of my good lilac top chopped to pieces and my stomach exposed.

  “You’re temperamental. Did you know that?”

  Obsidian scales glistened as she blinked. For a second I thought she could understand me. She opened her mouth, yawned, and let out a purr. She was pure perfect. Tiny tines stood out along the ridge of her body. Wings flattened against her back. She opened her mouth, but this time the mewl was demanding.

  She was getting hungry.

  I found the rearview mirror, and then the afternoon sun. Please let us get there soon. Wherever this place was, it better have formula…and lots of it.

  For years, I’d dreamed of this moment, holding a hybrid immortal life. The advances we could make—the diseases we could cure—all right here.

  I kept track of the road, but the geography was all the same. It didn’t matter, even if I could run I was useless with survival.

  I’d probably twist my ankle and get us all killed. The best I could hope for was a passing car. The snap of teeth dragged me back to the moment—a baby wolf was one thing, but how could I explain her?

  The car bumped and jolted, steering off the asphalt and onto dirt. A chill raced along my spine as I stared through the windshield to the dirt road that stretched for miles.

  “Where are you taking us?”

  Rocks and sticks peppered the underbelly of the car as we hurtled toward the middle of nowhere Private property signs sprang from nowhere, red and black with cross bones through it—the ghastly image reminded me of poison warnings, but most of these were nailed into the trunks of trees.

  The car slowed, throwing me forward, then turned to the right amongst a bank of trees and stopped at a steel gate. The same warning sign sat in the middle. I had a second to glance left as the door cracked open and then the Vampire was gone.

  He moved faster than I could track, lunging out of the car, whipping open the gate, and then sliding back into the driver’s seat. The sudden motion made me queasy. I sucked in easy breaths as he shoved the car into gear and rolled forward.

  I wanted to run, the seconds just weren’t enough. I gripped the babies tight. My teeth gnashed as the car bounced and jolted over deep ruts and fallen branches until the road suddenly ended.

  “Now, Doctor, we walk.”

  I followed the movement as he climbed out of the car and opened my door. Those red rimmed eyes seized mine, giving me nothing.

  He waited, hand on the door, motionless. I took a final glance at the babies in my arms and then skidded my ass along the seat. “I want to know where you’re taking us.”

  He took a step backwards giving me room.

  One foot hovered out of the car. I hated looking up at him. “I demand to know where we’re going.”

  He turned his head following the hard rise of the mountain and answered. “Up there.”

  Fallen pine trees blocked one way. The other was a steep incline covered with pine needles and rocks. “You’ve got to be kidding me?”

  His answer was to step away. He turned giving me his back and started walking. Panic rushed to the surface swallowing me in an endless tide. I clawed the back of the seat and heaved myself out of the car. I had nothing, no warm clothes, no water or food—and night was coming.

  I slammed the car door behind me and stumbled after him. The spongy forest floor held dangers of its own. My ankle twisted, knee jarred. An ache bloomed in the back of my leg and ate its way into my thigh, still I kept moving, finding one step at a time and followed the Vampire higher.

  The two tiny bundles grew heavy in my arm. My muscles tightened all the way into my shoulder. I eased the Dragon into my right arm and followed it with the wolf.

  Sticks and needles crunched under his steps, growing fainter the longer I stared. I dug deep, shoving my heels into the ground and pushed forward. Sweat broke out across my forehead to drip into my eyes. My steps blurred. The sting was instant.

  “I can’t…wait!”

  I swiped the back of my hand across my eyes. My legs shook. I couldn’t breathe, he was nowhere to be seen. A cry echoed from the baby in my arm, and the tired, hungry and dark pit of despair inside me grew.

  I pushed forward, using the hollows like a track spike to lunge higher. He was gone, leaving me to stumble—leaving me to get lost. The frigid December wind cut through my clothes. It took me a minute to remember today was Christmas.

  The harsh bark of laughter ripped from my chest. I sounded unhinged, unbridled—and cruelly alone. And I was…alone.

  Shadows seemed to move around me, reaching out with spindled fingers the minute I slowed. I ground my jaw, dug the ball of my foot into the soft earth, and shot forward, finding a hold in the rugged terrain.

  Movement came from my right. I wrenched my gaze toward the darkened thatch and caught the outline. Another shift seized me as the Vampire stepped from behind the towering Ash tree. There were three more of them, stepping out from all directions, watching, waiting.

  A tiny foot kicked my arm and a whimper followed. I pushed again, catching the slow slide as dirt slipped under my footing. Sweat ran in rivulets over my ribs and stuck my shirt to my back.

  The little ones kicked and bucked, a whimper turned into a howl the higher we pushed. My arms trembled, muscles burned. I eased the babies to my other arm and grasped a branch. One quick glance over my shoulder and I couldn’t move.

  The car was long gone, as was the base of the mountain. I swept my gaze higher. We weren’t far from the peak. Sheer rocky cliffs marred the way. There was no way I could climb that…no damn way.

  But I had no choice. I had to keep going.

  Step after step I clawed, pulled, until my muscles screamed. A wheeze filled my breaths and the faint taste of blood followed. Out of hiding they came, three undead to my right—I whipped my gaze around—and three more to my left. They closed in, herding me higher.

  I shook my head and sucked in the burning air. I couldn’t climb—no more, I wanted to say…no more.

  My tongue skimmed arid lips. I opened my mouth to say the words as one of them neared. He was blond, and much like the others—cold eyes and a pale pallor. He lifted his hand and pointed ahead.

  A cry tore from the Dragon, followed by a squeal. Her brother echoed with a whimper. They kicked and clawed. I balanced on the tree and let the branch go.

  They needed me…I cradled their heads and followed the Vampire’s gesture catching an edge of something in the dark.

  Sweat stung as I blinked and looked again.

  What was that? I dragged my foot forward, gripped my knee and pushed, and stared at a corner of a cabin.

  4

  Doc Angel

  Elation burst, dragging me forw
ard. I skidded, surged forward, and a doorway appeared. A grin snaked across my lips. I dropped my gaze to the babies. “We made it. We made it.”

  She purred and chirped. The sound pierced my head, and made me wince. She was happy…I was happy, as the ramshackle cabin loomed.

  “We need water,” a croak tore free. I scanned the mountain and tried to find them. “We need water, blankets, and formula.”

  The blond stepped from the trees and I jumped at the sight. “Do you understand me? Water and food for the babies.”

  He nodded to the open door. My knees locked and released, and I toppled more than stumbled, grabbing hold of the timber frame. Darkness waited for me inside. Sticks cracked underfoot. I glanced left as they closed ranks, pushing me inside.

  “Glad you could make it,” my driver murmured from the back of the room. “Take a seat, Doctor, we’ll be here for a while.”

  Three bottles of water sat next to a pile of blankets. I licked my lips finding nothing more than the hard rasp of skin and stepped closer. “Jesus, thank you.”

  The plastic containers were all I saw. I dropped to my knees, grasping the end of the blanket and pulled. My arms still felt their weight as I nestled each baby between the mounds.

  Harsh rays of the rising sun stabbed through the wooden walls to splash against the floor. The little Dragon kicked and clawed as I pulled away and reached for the bottle. The seal broke on the cap and my damn hand shook, spilling drops against her scales. I lifted one baby at a time, cradling them against my breast.

  Water spilled, soaking my shirt to my skin. I tried again pressing the rim to her mouth and eased the bottle upwards. She coughed, spluttered. Gurgles turned to a blood-chilling scream.

  My heart raced as I rocked her. “Come on…please, just drink for me, just a little. Please honey…please.”

  Water dribbled through her teeth and trickled down my arm. She thrashed, calling out with that piercing call, until her screams were savage and raw.

  Hopelessness swallowed me. Please…please just drink. Her tail whipped, catching me on the elbow. Pain followed, sinking deep, and the smell of blood filled the air.