Chapter 16
When I felt a hard, solid surface cradle my body I knew that I was safe. Don’t ask me how…but I knew that Serenity and her crazy macho man would be the least of my problems today.
I wouldn’t have to worry about anything else…
Besides, I was probably dead. Flattened instantly into a Mary Tanner pancake.
My eyes were clenched shut, but I fearlessly let them open, blinking in the bright, white light that washed down to coat my aching skin.
But death wasn’t quite what I expected.
Heaven was very smoggy, I couldn’t help thinking. And…it smelled like peppermint.
Confused, I craned my head back only to realize that I wasn’t broken into pieces on the sidewalk. I was in the arms—very real arms—of someone who held me so tight I almost couldn’t breathe.
“Next time,” Dustyn said seriously into my hair. “You could at least wait for me to break down the front door.”
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We high-tailed it away from my doomed apartment like bad-asses in an action flick. Or, more like Dustyn did with me in his arms, along for the ride.
My heart was pounding so badly that I was afraid the damn thing might explode from my chest—but a naughty part of me knew that it had abso-lute-ly nothing to do with the two vampires currently squatting in my apartment.
No siree Bob.
It was no secret that Dustyn was one buff dude—but now, pressed close against him I couldn’t help but realize just how buff. Very, very, very buff; the boy had the kind of muscles you could sharpen steel on.
Every inch of him felt lean and mean and purely iron.
Don’t get me wrong—Dave was no puny wimp. But even he, with his lanky body, had nothing on the pure fitness of Dustyn.
My heart was pounding so hard because I was fucking disgusted with myself…
Because, a tiny part of me—damn the damsel in distress—absolutely loved the way his arms flexed and shivered as he carried me through alleyways and back streets that divide this shitty side of the city.
“I think we’ve lost them.” I felt Dustyn’s arms go rigid as he slowed to a stop and glanced worriedly over his shoulder. “But I don’t think it’s safe to push our luck just yet.”
I yawned, unaware of just how exhausted I was until just now. Being chased by vicious monsters tended to do that to a girl, I guessed. Hearing said monsters go on and on about princesses and demons and insanity didn’t help much, either.
But something Dustyn had said made me cock and eyebrow in confusion.
“Can they even walk in the sunlight?”
His head swiveled around to shoot me one of those looks that plainly said; seriously?
“What?” I demanded around another yawn—it was getting hard just to keep my eyes open. “Won’t they…burn in the sun or something?”
“No,” Dustyn said quietly. I didn’t miss the annoyed edge to his tone.
How the hell was I supposed to know? All my vampire expertise came from Dracula movies—and Dracula would have very much burned alive if he went out for a stroll in broad daylight.
So there, I couldn’t help but add mentally. Too bad I couldn’t cross my arms.
“These aren’t your run-of the mill vampires,” Dustyn said in a low voice. “They’re Stroggha,” he added as if that explained everything. “They can tolerate the sun long enough to chase us down, if they wanted to.”
A frowned at the word. Stroggha. It was what Serenity and Alexi kept talking about—but before I could ask him to elaborate, his fingers slipped beneath my chin and he tilted my head back to meet his stare.
“What did they do to you?” His voice was quieter, softer. I didn’t miss the way his grip tightened or how those gray eyes seemed to smolder with something that could have been…worry.
“What did they want with you? Did they hurt you?”
I sighed and twirled a finger through the air, before I could help it—as if this was a daily occurrence…which, I was beginning to realize, it was.
“Oh, they just wanted to kill me—the usual.” I release another yawn and began to realize just how comfortable it was being in Dustyn’s grasp—like being cradled in a warm armchair. “Same old same old,” I mutter into the beaten leather of his jacket.
There was no need to mention the fact that they seemed to have mistaken me for someone else. Or that they seemed to think my father had not actually been my rather but some guy named Andre' who was supposed to protect me from demons or something…
Yep. It was all much too freaky to focus on in detail.
All that mattered was the main bullet points; they were vampires. They tried to kill me. They broke into my apartment.
The end.
“Shit.” The venom in his voice makes me lift my head from his shoulder to peer at his chin inquisitively.
It didn’t like Dustyn to randomly cuss. He isn’t like me—who treats cursing as an art form of sorts. Shit is not a word that I even thought was within his repertoire.
His eyes were on the street that waited just beyond the alley. I felt him tense, as if sensing something that I couldn’t.
“We need to move,” he said, right before heading deeper into the alley on light feet. He cut across it, and slipped out onto the opposite block where he dipped into another alley before anyone could look at us close enough to see the blood still coating my neck.
But Dustyn noticed. I saw his eyes dart down to my throat and he shifted my weight so that he could reach up to trail the two points of Alexi’s bite with shaking fingers.
“This is the second time they’ve tried to kill you,” he grumbled.
I made a sound of agreement and nodded while the pad of his thumb slid around the width of my collar.
Yep, apparently murdering Mary Tanner was a hot item on the vampire’s agenda—though, to be fair they did seem more inclined to talk this time.
About a missing princess—who they seemed to have mistaken me for—and her impending insanity.
Lovely.
As far as I was concerned, Serenity and her boy toy could go to hell.
Hasta la vista.
“We can’t stay out in the open like this,” I heard Dustyn murmur. I glanced up into his eyes and felt my heart skip a beat. They was positively electric—he looked more serious than I had ever seen him before.
Serious enough to maim some vampires. Serious enough to kill.
“We should go back to the hideout,” I said nervously. I didn’t like how fierce he looked—like the actual Van Helsing come to life. “Come on.” I tugged at his collar. “The warehouse—”
“It’s not safe,” he grumbled. “They’ve tried to kill you there already. Who’s to say they won’t try again?”
“Then where?” I countered.
He didn’t answer. Those gray eyes just glared like lasers at the mouth of the alley, as if he were daring the vampires to stumble upon our hiding place so he could…
“Dustyn!” I reached up with my bloody hand, not caring as my scarlet fingers tangled with that silky blond hair. I gripped the back of his head and forced it to turn and face me. “I-it’s not worth it,” I managed to stammer.
I could tell from the way his muscles bulged beneath his dark jacket that he wanted nothing more than to meet Serenity and Alexi head on and fight—but for some reason the thought of him going up against the vamps terrified me.
I didn’t want him to.
He glared. “What do you mean it’s not worth it?” Somehow, my words had pissed him off. He wrenched his head from my grip, and I felt his arms shift as if he meant to put me down so that he could circle back—so, I did the only thing I could think of to keep him from doing something stupid.
I begged.
“Please.”
His head whipped around at the sound and his eyes lost that icy glimmer. Shakily, I reached up to brush the side of his neck.
“Dustyn, Please…let’s just go.”
He stared at me for so long that I was almost surprised that Serenity and Alexi didn’t show up and catch us. Very carefully, his face rearrange itself back into that blank mask and he was all robot again.
“Okay.”
I blinked as he turned on his heel and cut deeper into the alley.
“Um, if you don’t mind my asking,” I blurted, clutching his arm. “Just…where exactly are we going?”
He looked down on me, gaze unreadable. “I know a place,” his voice was gruff—but it might have had something to do with how fast he was moving, while still supporting my weight. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Well,” I squeaked helplessly, as he turned a corner so quickly that my head flopped back against his chest. “That sounds lovely…”
That was Dustyn for you. No sense of adventure.