Supernatural. Part 6

He seized her by the waist and hauled her against him, one hand going to her scrub bottoms' drawstring. The storm of l.u.s.t gathering inside him intensified, a raging force of nature fueled by the residual stir of the jungle, unquenched thirst for Lena, and a carnal instinct to possess the female he'd had in his sights for days.

Lightning fast, she hauled off and slapped him. "Release me." She didn't wait for him to obey. With a surprisingly vicious stomp on his foot, she threw herself backwards, cras.h.i.+ng into the supply tray and knocking metal instruments everywhere.

She didn't get far. "Dammit, woman!" He caught her around the torso and pinned her between his body and a cabinet.

Son of a b.i.t.c.h. This couldn't have gone worse, but it was too late to turn on the charm, and he knew it. He'd never forced a female in his life, and he wouldn't cross that line now. But he'd do what he had to in order to save her life. Steeling himself for her response to what was going to be the most d.i.c.kheaded thing he'd ever said or done, he wrapped his fingers around her throat and bared his fangs.

"You'll sleep with me, or you're fired."

Her throat convulsed beneath his fingers and her eyes shot wide open. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. f.u.c.k or flee. Your choice."

She began to tremble, and G.o.ds, he felt like a b.a.s.t.a.r.d. "You . . . a.s.shole."

"Guess that's your answer." He released her and stepped back. "Pack your s.h.i.+t, turn in your uniform, and never come back to this place. Do you understand me, Lena? Never, ever return." He wheeled around and yanked open the door, stopping when a miscellany of medical supplies pelted his back.

"Go to h.e.l.l, Nathan." She beaned him with her stethoscope, which fell to the floor next to his feet, sprawled like a dead snake. "Go. To. h.e.l.l."

Not a problem, he thought, as he exited the office. He was already there.

Chapter 8.

Vladlena stood in the medical office like a dolt, stunned to the core. Dangling from her fingers were the set of keys she'd lifted off Nate when she'd realized what he wanted from her and how serious he was about getting it.

What didn't sit well with her was the sickening knowledge that had she been able to have s.e.x with him, she would have. He wouldn't even have had to threaten her. She'd have been his for the taking.

G.o.ds, she was an idiot.

She looked around at the supplies scattered on the floor, some of them a result of her clumsiness, some from hurling them at Nate. How could he have turned into such a coldhearted b.a.s.t.a.r.d like that? The answer smacked her upside the head with a big, fat, duh-stick. What else had she expected from someone who was most likely pitting fighters against each other in death matches?

The reality was a welcome cold fist to the solar plexus. Anger and hurt collided, but panic quickly overshadowed the mix. She was out of time. If she didn't find the fight club now, she never would.

Eschewing stealth, she crossed the dance floor, stalked down the hall to Nate's office, and knocked loudly. No answer. She tried the door. Unlocked. So she didn't need his keys after all.

She placed them on the desk, but before she did anything stupid, she made a quick call to Underworld General and left a message with the triage nurse. After hanging up, she tripped the secret door. It swung open with no more sound than a whisper of air, revealing exactly what she'd both hoped and dreaded to find; a pa.s.sageway.

She took one deep, bracing breath, and started down the stairs.

At the base, she became aware of her surroundings, that they were nothing but a cold, claustrophobic tunnel of cement and stone. As she walked, the sound of cheers rose up, growing louder, until she couldn't hear herself think, but she could definitely feel her stomach churning.

It was real. It was all real, and Nate, that . . . that . . . d.i.c.k . . . was smack dab in the middle of it all.

Rounding a corner, she caught sight of an opening ahead. A ma.s.s of bodies blocked her view of whatever was beyond, but if the snarls, growls, and grotesque wet thumps were any indication, she'd found the fight club. Unwelcome visions of her brother being in the middle of all this a.s.saulted her brain, and she squeezed her eyes closed and halted for just a moment.

Get it together . . .

She started moving again, pus.h.i.+ng her leaden feet forward, and too late she noticed the two sentries standing just outside the entrance. Her heart tripped over itself, and so did her feet, but thankfully, even as she fell forward out of the tunnel, one of the big males merely grabbed her, smiled, and released her into the crowd. Apparently, they were there to prevent people from entering the tunnel, not leaving it.

The air was ripe with the scent of blood, l.u.s.t, and fury. Quickly but carefully, she eased through the crowd, searching for the public entrance. Once she found that, she could get the h.e.l.l out of here and back to Underworld General to report the location- A hand came down on her shoulder, and she whirled, drew a harsh, startled breath when she came face to face with Fade, whose eyes were glowing crimson.

"You don't belong here, little girl," he grated.

Before she could say a word, he jerked her into him, squeezed her neck, and all went black.

Chapter 9.

For decades, Nate had been dead, his heart little more than a desiccated knot of muscle sitting uselessly in his chest. But as Gladius's manager, Budag, rubbed his bald head and told Nate about Vladlena's foray into the fight club, Nate's heart began to stir.

No, not just stir. It went mad with fear, worry, and dread. That d.a.m.ned s.h.i.+fter nurse had performed CPR on him, resurrecting his cold, undead self.

"Release her," Nate ground out. He looked past Budag's hulking shoulder from where he stood at the tunnel threshold between Gladius and Thirst. The crowd was wound up about something, and bloodl.u.s.t was in the air.

"No can do, vampire." Budag's deep voice rattled Nate's temper. "Fade already put her in the ring for a bait match."

Nate lost it. He slammed the demon into the wall and got right up in his face, fangs bared, ready to take a chunk of flesh out of him. "You f.u.c.king lie! He wouldn't have done that. She was going to be a sacrifice-"

"Since she stuck her nose where it didn't belong, she was no longer desirable as a sacrifice." Budag's almond eyes crinkled with amus.e.m.e.nt. "At least, not a sacrifice for the new fight club. The Neethul twins are enjoying her plenty as a sacrifice."

Nate didn't waste another second. Heaving Budag aside, he plowed through the crowd, shoving people out of the way as he hauled a.s.s to the ring. His heart, if it beat, would have stopped at the sight of Lena, her uniform ripped and bloodied, trying to fend off the two elf-like demons who were toying with her. And there was no question that they were toying. He'd seen the brothers fight, and right now, they were like h.e.l.lhounds with a cornered cat.

Nate didn't think. He acted. Acted himself right into the arena and caught the demons by surprise. Taking advantage of their temporary confusion, he punched his fist into one of the males' neck and ripped out his throat. Blood and strings of gore dripped from his hand, and the audience roared.

The remaining Neethul barely cast his dead brother a glance as he came at Nate with a deflesher, a thick chain with a razor stirrup at the end. Wielded properly, the weapon could fillet a six-inch wide strip of flesh off the entire length of an arm and leave it bare to the bone.

The demon was an expert with it.

s.h.i.+t. All around, the crowd hushed, leaving only Lena's scream and the whistle of the chain as it cut the air. Nate dove to the blood-soaked sand and rolled, las.h.i.+ng out with his feet. The razor stirrup slammed into the ground next to Nate's head as his kick caught his opponent in the knees. The Neethul fell but was up again in an instant.

So was Nate. Before the demon could do a rewind with the chain, Nate slammed into him, knocking them both into the cement retaining wall. Sharp teeth sank into Nate's shoulder, and son of a b.i.t.c.h, that hurt.

Dimly, through the haze of pain, Nate heard the crowd go ballistic, their chants of, "Kill! Kill! Kill!" buzzing in his ears. His past came down on him in a shroud of memory, and just as it had been all those years ago, it would be that way again.

With a snarl, he gripped the demon's head and twisted. The snap of spine was swallowed by the audience's noise, which became deafening when Nate dropped the body and left it, twitching, on the ground.

Lena was standing a few feet away, her face bruised and pale, one eye blackened and blood trickling from the corner of her swollen mouth. She'd been battered to h.e.l.l and back, but defiance burned in her eyes. Hate, too, and he didn't blame her.

Still, she didn't resist when he took her hand and led her to the gate used to transport both the dead and the living in and out of the arena. The giant iron rack rattled and clanged as it heaved upward, but Nate didn't have a chance to be grateful that they were being let out.

Fade stood there, flanked by three burly rhino-fiends who worked in the "zoo" one level below, the dark, dank area where fighters and bait creatures were kept. None of them looked happy, Fade least of all.

"Obviously," Fade rumbled, "you didn't learn the first time you took a female from me."

Nate tightened his grip on Lena. "I don't want to lose a good medic," he said, even though he knew his excuse was both tired and lame. If it hadn't worked before, it wouldn't work now.

Fade knew it too. And he wasn't going to let slide the fact that Nate had killed two of his most popular fighters. The Neethul twins had been fairly new to the fighting scene, but their good looks and penchant for cruelly toying with their victims had been big draws for the crowds.

"How stupid do you think I am?" Fade signaled to his goons. "Lock them up." His smile at Nate was pure evil. "Congratulations, Sabine. Once again, you get to watch your female die."

For about thirty seconds after Fade shut his creepy mouth, Lena was sure Nate was going to explode into violence. After what she'd seen him do to the Neethuls, she knew he was very capable of it. In fact, the tension rose up in him so strongly that she could feel it in a tangible crackle in the inch of air between them and see it in his ma.s.sively descended fangs and red-glowing eyes. But even as the demons tensed for battle, Nate calmed, almost as if the air had been let out of him.

He'd walked meekly alongside the demons, though he hadn't let go of Lena. It wasn't until they were thrown into a cell together that the depth of his anger became clear. As Fade's laughter and the guards' footsteps melted away, Nate rounded on her, fists clenched, the fire burning in his eyes again.

His voice was warped with rage. "I told you to leave."

"You fired me for not sleeping with you," she shot back, strangely grateful for his anger, because it kept her from falling apart. "I didn't think you really had any right to order me around after that. You don't even have any right to be angry with me, a.s.shole."

"How did you find Gladius?" he snapped, as if she hadn't even spoken. "Did you follow me down here?"

"It doesn't matter how I found it. What matters is that you're a b.a.s.t.a.r.d. A sick, twisted, evil b.a.s.t.a.r.d who operates a business where death is entertainment." She could have sworn she saw hurt flash in his eyes before they became chips of ruby ice again, but that didn't stop her rant. "Why did you bother to save me? You should have bet on the outcome like everyone else."

"Shut up." His voice was as cold as his gaze.

"What's the matter? Did I strike a nerve? Feeling a little guilty? Or are you upset that you got yourself into trouble with your boss?"

He took a step forward. "I said, shut up."

"Or what? You'll kill me? Newsflash, buddy. It's going to happen anyway. But you can bet that if I disappear, my colleagues are going to tear this place down and feed it to you before they slaughter your a.s.s."

Actually, she hoped they'd pull a cavalry and rescue her. She just had to pray Eidolon and his brothers got her message before she was fed to the lions. Or whatever creatures were screeching in the nearby cages.

One second Nate was standing near the door, and the next he was chest to chest with her, pinning her against the wall. It didn't escape her notice that they spent a lot of time in this position.

"Your colleagues," he ground out. "At Underworld General? It's time to stop with the games, little s.h.i.+fter, and tell me who the f.u.c.k you are and why you're really here."

"Bite me."

That was so the wrong thing to say to a vampire who was teetering on the edge. He struck like a viper, sinking his fangs deep in her throat, and despite the dire situation, despite her anger and hurt and confusion at how he'd treated her and his involvement in the fight club, she gasped with pleasure. The initial sting turned into a lovely burn that spread through her body in the form of liquid heat. Vampires could make feeding horrifically painful or o.r.g.a.s.mically wonderful, and clearly, Nate had gone with the latter.

But she couldn't allow this. She hated him. Really. Weakly, she flattened her palms against his chest and shoved, but she didn't need to. His head snapped up and he stepped back all by himself, surprise glittering in his eyes.

"You're no tiger," he snarled. "d.a.m.n you, has everything about you been a lie?"

She slapped her hand over the punctures in her throat. "Me? You're the one who has a hidden door in his office. You're the one who's been hiding a club where people fight to the death."

His nostrils flared, and his gaze zeroed in on her neck. Before she could protest, he peeled away her palm and licked the fang punctures, sealing the wound.

"G.o.ds," he murmured against her skin. "You taste like dark chocolate, and honey, and . . . canine." He tore away from her, leaving her swaying unsteadily and relying on the wall behind her to hold her up. He faced away from her, his hands running through his hair over and over, as if doing so was as important to his existence as blood. "Why? Why are you here?"

"Because you murdered my brother."

He wheeled around. "Who was your brother?"

"Given the number of people who probably pa.s.s through your arena, I doubt you'll remember him," she said bitterly.

"Who?"

"His name was Vaughn." She raised her chin, meeting his gaze so he could see her pain. "He was a hyena s.h.i.+fter who died last week."

"Hyena . . ." Nate's brow furrowed. "Blond. Mismatched green and blue eyes."

"So you do know who he was."

Nate's tongue flicked over one of the fangs he'd sunk into her flesh. "You're not a hyena any more than you're a tiger."

"I am," she ground out. "And you killed my brother."

He snorted. "Your brother killed himself."

With a pained cry, she launched herself at Nate. He caught her easily, well before she landed a single blow. "You son of a b.i.t.c.h," she screamed. "You evil, heartless son of a b.i.t.c.h!"

From the nearby cages, she heard catcalls and cheers, as well as a few curses. Nate tugged her against him, his arms wrapping tightly around her, caging her so she couldn't strike out.

"Shh." His soft voice didn't penetrate her anger. "Hey. Listen to me. Your brother came to us. He made a deal for a fight."

"No. No! He wouldn't-"

"He said he was dying."

Dying? She stilled completely, freezing solid against Nate's big body. "I don't . . . I don't understand. Why did he say that?"

"I don't know." He relaxed his hold, but still cradled her against his chest. "All I know is that he wanted to fight one of our champions, a hyena named Vic. And Vaughn made a provision that if he died in battle, Vic would leave Vaughn's sister alone. I guess that's you."

"Oh, G.o.ds," she whispered. "Vic. He's here?"

"Yeah. Nasty b.a.s.t.a.r.d. Why would Vaughn want Vic to leave you alone?"

"Because," she said, on a shaky inhale, "ever since my father died, Vic and my other brother, Van, have tried to kill me every few months."

Curses fell from Nate's mouth. "So Vaughn was here to guarantee your safety."

His hand cupped the back of her head with surprising tenderness, and his voice softened, which was something she couldn't afford to do. If Nate was telling the truth, he hadn't killed Vaughn, exactly, but he was still a sc.u.mbag who ran a vile operation.