Supernatural. Part 8

The sound of an anxious crowd, and of blood, bowels, and excrement grew stronger, and she knew she was once again entering the vile arena. One of the demons removed her shackles while the other stripped off her blindfold, and then she was shoved through the gate into the blinding light of the pit.

The first thing she saw was Nate, barefoot, bare-chested, wearing only jeans. His hands were fisted around an ax handle as he faced Fade, who held a wicked curved blade and a wooden stake. Every drop of color drained from Nate's face when he saw her.

"Hey, sis."

She wheeled around. "Vic," she gasped. "What . . . what are you doing?"

Vic pegged her with those black marbles he called eyes. "I'm finally going to rid the world of your weakness."

"But Vaughn-"

"I told Vaughn I'd leave you alone on your turf. This is mine." His body began to morph, the sound of bones cracking and reshaping so unbelievably loud in the noisy club.

Lena backed away, knowing full well that when the ten-second process was over, she'd be facing a 250-pound hyena that was far more powerful than its full-animal counterpart.

"This wasn't part of the deal!" Nate snarled.

Fade's laughter rang out, echoing endlessly. "You die, she lives. That was the deal," Fade said. "But if she dies before you do . . ." He shrugged. "Well, that can't be helped, can it?"

A low-pitched, jagged growl brought her attention back to Vic, who was now all animal. All monster. Drool dripped from his open mouth, which exposed sharp teeth meant to rip flesh from victims while he ate them alive. Terror welled as she eased backward, scanning the area for a weapon. Unfortunately, there was nothing, and though both her father and Wraith had spent time with her in Underworld General's gym, teaching her self-defense, she knew d.a.m.ned good and well that her meager hand-to-hand skills weren't going to help her against the beast in front of her.

Nate moved so fast she didn't see him until he was at her side, swinging the ax. Vic yelped as the blade grazed him in the shoulder, but then Fade was there, his weapon coming down in a vicious arc.

Nate whirled, narrowly avoiding being beheaded, but his own swing at the demon went wild, leaving an opening for Vic. Her brother lunged, catching her forearm between his jaws. A firestorm of agony accompanied the crunch of bone. Screaming, she punched him in the head, but she was no match for the brother who had beaten her in every battle since they were cubs. He shook her like a rag doll, and her world became a blur.

A warm spray splattered her face-her own blood, she realized, as Vic sent her flying into the wall. Pain shattered her ribs, spine, and arm as she crumpled to the ground. Though she could hear the battle between Nate and Fade clearly, she could barely see through the veil of red dripping into her eyes. In a split second, though, her vision filled with fur and teeth. She twisted, barely avoiding having her face ripped off, and at the same time, she jammed her good arm back, nailing the hyena in the throat.

Vic gagged and fell back, but murder burned like coals in his eyes. When he came at her again, she knew she was dead. Hot, fetid breath scoured her face and claws tore into her shoulders. In a frenzy fueled by fear and adrenaline, she kicked, hit, lifted her knee to nail the beast in the gut.

Once again, blood sprayed her. Arterial blood, and a lot of it. Vic had killed her. He'd finally . . . dropped to the ground? She blinked, scrambling backward in the sand like a crab. Vic's body, split open through his rib cage, lay sprawled against the wall, twitching as it s.h.i.+fted back into human form.

Nate had killed her brother. Maybe it was wrong of Lena to not feel bad about it, but right now she didn't care. Ax blade dripping with streaks of s.h.i.+ny crimson, Nate tried to swing back around to Fade, but saving her life had already cost him. Fade's blade flashed, and Nate went down, hamstrung all the way to his thigh bone.

"Nate!" Hauling herself to her feet, she staggered toward him.

The crowd cheered, their bloodthirsty chants ringing in her ears. Fade leaped into the air, his spin-kick landing hard on Nate's jaw. Before Nate could recover, the demon seized Nate's wrist and flung him like a Frisbee across the arena. Nate's body hit the far wall with a thump.

He didn't move.

"No!" Horror and pain squeezed Lena's heart, and as Fade sauntered toward Nate, stake poised to strike a death blow, her legs gave out. Confusion and helplessness collided, spinning her emotions out of control. She wanted to scream, but nothing would come. She wanted to help Nate, but she couldn't get her limbs to work.

Her entire body stung, stretched, felt like it was coming apart at the seams. Was she . . . yes. She was s.h.i.+fting. Ma.s.sive gray paws. .h.i.t the ground, the wrong color for a hyena, but screw it, she didn't care. Power ripped through her . . . power and strength and clarity. Without hesitation, she tore across the arena, a sense of elation, of freedom, singing through her veins with every leap and bound.

She hit Fade in the back and closed her jaws around his head. Even as she crunched down on his skull, she heard a commotion, a ripple in the crowd.

She scented them before she saw them-Eidolon and his brothers. His sister. Con. And several others from the hospital and Eidolon's extended family. Even some members of The Aegis.

She didn't think, just . . . s.h.i.+fted back before any of their weapons tore through her like Nate's ax had done to Vic. Her saviors were like locusts, sweeping through the place and fighting the guards. Eidolon and Shade rushed to her, but she shook her head.

"I'm okay. But Nate needs help."

Help was putting it mildly. He was unconscious, a stake sitting dead center in his chest and multiple, deep gashes all over his body, some gaping so wide that shredded muscle spilled out like raw meat. One leg was nearly severed, and his handsome face was all but unrecognizable.

"We need to get him back to UG, stat." E's tone was grim as he kneeled next to Nate. "The stake in his chest is a frag spike."

Fear was an icy spear in Lena's gut. Frag spikes were designed to kill vampires the same as a regular stake, but they fragmented like a bullet when they entered flesh, allowing for more chances to strike a lethal blow. Even if they didn't kill right away, the slivers took on lives of their own, traveling around the body until they found the heart.

"Lena," Shade said, even as he signaled to one of the medics for a portable stretcher, "do you want this?"

She knew what he was asking. Inside the hospital, the brothers performed their duties on even the most vile creatures. Outside was another story. If she gave the word, Shade and Eidolon would put Nate out of his misery right then and there. But Nate wasn't the monster she'd thought he was, and she nodded.

"I want this more than anything," she said softly. "Save him."

Chapter 12.

Nate hadn't felt this c.r.a.ppy since . . . well, he couldn't remember when. Consciousness was elusive, and when he did manage to grasp it and hold on for more than a few moments, pain wracked him and made him wish for slumber again.

Except that he needed to be awake, because he kept hearing Vladlena's voice, and he was desperate to know that he wasn't dreaming her softly-spoken words.

Slowly, he pried open his eyes. A grayish fog swirled all around him, but through it he could make out hospital equipment and walls scrawled with red symbols. On the ceiling, thick chains hung in neat loops, and when he turned his head to look out the open doorway, he saw people in scrubs moving past. Beyond them . . .

He blinked. Blinked again. The fog didn't clear, but a person came into focus, a person he hadn't seen since the day he became a vampire.

It was the male who had turned him.

The ma.s.sive guy hadn't changed; he was still wearing some sort of plate bone armor, and his pale hair still hung to his shoulders, with two thin braids at each temple. Tattoos on his throat writhed as he spoke with a Seminus demon in a black paramedic uniform.

Nate waited for the hot, searing hatred to wash over him, the way it always had when he thought of the male who had taken Nate's mortal life from him. But nothing happened. Nate had fantasized about finding the b.a.s.t.a.r.d and dismembering him slowly, making him pay for what he'd done.

Now . . . now Nate was oddly calm about seeing the guy. The person Nate really wanted to see was Lena, and so far, she was a no-show.

Nate.

She might be a no-show, but her sweet voice was a soothing whisper in his head. Closing his eyes, he let the male who'd made him a vampire disappear, and he concentrated on Lena, wis.h.i.+ng he'd had a chance to make love to her.

Nate.

He inhaled, caught a whiff of the fresh scent unique to Lena's silky skin. Rolling his head to the side, he opened his eyes again. She was standing next to him, dressed in purple scrubs, fiddling with an IV bag of blood. And she was wearing his stethoscope.

"Hey." Her smile wrapped around his heart, and he smiled back like a besotted fool. "It's about time you woke up. As soon as this bag empties, you should be back almost to 100 percent."

"Are you . . ." He had to clear his throat of what seemed to be a year of disuse. "Are you okay?"

"Eidolon healed me when we first came in. Two days ago, in case you're wondering." She took his hand, her warm palm heating him. "For a while there, I thought I was going to lose you."

He'd thought that too. But then she'd come out of nowhere, all fur and fangs, and . . . "You s.h.i.+fted," he whispered. "I saw you." What she'd s.h.i.+fted into was another question. He'd never seen anything like the huge, beautiful canine.

"I'm free, Nate." Her voice was full of charming, childlike excitement. "I'm going to live."

Nate pushed himself up on one elbow. "How did it happen?"

The sound of a cleared throat brought Nate's head around. A dark-haired male in scrubs and a white lab coat stood in the doorway.

"Seems our Vladlena is a rare crossbreed. I'm p.i.s.sed that I didn't think of that sooner."

"Why would you have?" she asked. "My father said I was his."

"He also said you were born in human form. I didn't put that together with your inability to s.h.i.+ft."

"Crossbreed?" Nate asked.

She nodded. "Apparently, my dam mated with a wolf the same day she mated with the hyena I thought was my father. Who is my father." There was a heartbeat of silence before she added, "He might have been an evil sonofab.i.t.c.h, but he was good to me."

"You'll have to tell me about him someday," Nate said, and she gave him that smile that knocked him off his axis again. "So how could two different species produce offspring? And how come your other brothers are hyenas?"

Eidolon spoke up. "Littermates can have multiple fathers. As far as interspecies s.h.i.+fter breeding . . . in most cases, it can't happen. But hyenas are the one s.h.i.+fter species that can sometimes breed with both felines and canines, though the cubs are usually stillborn. Those who survive birth rarely live beyond infancy. I've never heard of any making it to adulthood." He scrubbed his hand over his face. "I'll bet the fact that your father was a doctor saved your life. He said you and Vaughn were sick a lot as babies. Even if he didn't know why you were sick, he was able to treat you."

Lena's fingers stroked the back of Nate's hand absently. "What made me finally be able to s.h.i.+ft?"

"Adrenaline," Eidolon said. "Probably combined with strong emotion. Whatever it was, you powered through the block you had." A commotion started up outside the room. "That's my cue. Nate, you should feed as soon as possible, and take it easy for a couple of days. Other than that, you two can both take off. Lena, call me later."

The second the doctor was gone, Nate jackknifed up, hauled Lena into his arms, and yanked her down on top of him. The pinch of pain in his chest was worth having her body against his. "I'm sorry, Vladlena." He stared into her eyes, praying she could see the intense regret in his. "I'm so sorry I got you into that mess."

She shook her head, making her braid tap against his neck. "I'm not. I mean, I could have done without nearly being killed, but because of it, I was able to s.h.i.+ft. Really, being in that arena saved my life."

"I killed your brother."

Her hand came up to cup his cheek. "He'd have killed me if you hadn't."

Thank G.o.ds she was cool with what he'd done, because he wouldn't take it back even if he could. That b.a.s.t.a.r.d had deserved to die. A sudden flare of panic shot through him as the events in the arena came back to him.

"What happened to Fade? And the club. s.h.i.+t . . . Marsden-"

"Marsden's fine," she a.s.sured him. "In fact, he was here a little while ago to check on you. Gladius has been shut down, and Fade's dead."

If only that were true, and the reality was like water on flame. The demon would hunt Nate and Lena to the ends of the earth. "He can be resurrected."

A wicked smile touched her lips, stirring the embers of the fire that had just been doused. "Sin recognized his demon species. His remains are being stored in the morgue until we can identify and kill his vivacant."

d.a.m.n, Lena and her colleagues were awesome. "I can help with that." He kissed her, a fleeting brush of his mouth over hers. "Oh, hey, I want to find that vampire I saw earlier."

"You'll have to be more specific," she said wryly. "This place is crawling with the fangy sort."

"Tall. Blond. Wearing armor. He's the guy who turned me." He kissed her again, this time just long enough to get a taste of her peach lip gloss. "I want to thank him. Never thought I'd say that."

She frowned. "The only male who fits that description I've seen isn't a vampire. He's one of the Four Hors.e.m.e.n of the Apocalypse."

Nate snorted. "Yeah, right."

"Seriously." Her head bobbed and her dewy skin took on an excited flush that might have unearthed some jealousy if Nate wasn't so . . . reeling. "His name's Thanatos. He was here a little while ago."

Yeah, that was enough to make him dizzy. "Those guys are real?"

"Very."

Nate blew out a stunned breath. "Maybe I didn't see my sire, then. Must have been hallucinating."

Closing his eyes, he buried his face in Lena's neck, taking in the soft floral notes of her shampoo and soap. She smelled clean, like a shower, and all of a sudden, all he could think about was getting her under a spray of hot water, naked, with his hands lathering every inch of her skin.

"So do you want to comb the hospital for your sire?" she asked, her voice a husky murmur. "Or would you rather go home? Because I know which I'd rather do."

So did he. For two hundred years he'd searched for his sire, and now, he realized, it didn't matter. The past was no longer important. Only the future mattered, and he was going to make sure that future included Lena.

Vladlena was going to have s.e.x. And it was about freaking time.

Before leaving the hospital, Nate had showered and dressed in scrubs for the trip home. Then they'd taken a Harrogate bus to his place-a charming manor in the French countryside. At first she'd been surprised by his home, expecting him to be more of a city-dweller with a modern apartment. But within minutes, the cozy but utilitarian furnis.h.i.+ngs and masculine decor made as much sense as a mane on a lion. It was as if stepping over the threshold transformed him from an intense, alert vampire into a male at ease inside his own territory.

She also noticed that even as he relaxed, building a fire and pouring gla.s.ses of wine, he never stopped watching her, his gaze growing hotter by the second, until they both combusted and ended up naked on the rug before the hearth.

Lena didn't even remember how their clothes came off. Didn't matter. All that mattered was that they were tangled together in such a tight knot that they might never unravel. Nate's muscular thigh was between her legs, pressing against her core with the most amazing pressure that both soothed the throbbing ache and made her squirm for more.

Vladlena might have been sheltered, might have been a little naive. But she'd had o.r.g.a.s.ms, by both herself and at Nate's skilled hand. And now that she knew how much better it was to climax with a male who oozed s.e.x with every fiber of his being? Her prey drive had been engaged.

And Nate was the prey.

"Now," she moaned, sliding his hand from her breast to her belly and pus.h.i.+ng it lower.

He smiled against the skin of her other breast, taking a break from the maddening flick of his tongue on her nipple. "How I ever thought you were innocent is beyond me."

She arched, rolling her hips in blatant invitation. "Let's get rid of all doubt."

Chuckling, he put his lips over her sternum in an openmouthed kiss that included a lot of silky tongue. It was awesome, but not what she wanted, and she fisted his p.e.n.i.s to show him what it was she did want. His hiss of pleasure accompanied a hot sting of fang tips sc.r.a.ping on her skin, and G.o.ds, she nearly came. A climax had built like steam without warning, and she had to resist the temptation to ride his leg to completion like a h.o.r.n.y . . . well . . . wolf.

That had been shocking news, but it had made sense, had quieted the nagging voice that had always told her she was different. Now she knew why, and she didn't care how it had happened or who her biological father was. She'd always lived in the present, and presently, a hard-bodied, s.e.xy vampire was kissing his way down her belly.

Her breath caught as he went lower, pressing a lingering kiss in the crease between her leg and her s.e.x. Okay, she thought she'd been ready for this, but suddenly, her heart was battering her ribs, her lungs had turned to cement, and- He licked her. The flat of his tongue went right up her center, and she melted into a liquid puddle of need. She squirmed, unsure how to handle this, but his hands shot out to still her, one arm lying heavily across her pelvis and the other spreading her for the onslaught of his mouth on her swollen flesh.

Obviously, Lena hadn't experienced oral s.e.x, so she had no frame of reference when it came to skill. But when Nate plunged a finger inside her core and latched his lips onto her pleasure center, she'd have to go with really, fantastically, majorly skilled. She thrashed and writhed in his grip, and the o.r.g.a.s.m that had been boiling erupted. He worked her through it with long, sweeping pa.s.ses of his tongue and pressure-intense sucks on her c.l.i.t. She was pretty sure she shouted his name, and then he was on top of her, his glorious fall of hair tickling her skin, the tip of his p.e.n.i.s poised at her entrance.

His gaze caught and held hers, br.i.m.m.i.n.g with concern and molten heat.