“Oh, bleep,” I whispered.
Chapter Six
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
One vamp I could handle. Heck, I could probably even handle five at a time--shriveled corpse muscles and all. But twenty vampires? I was not liking my odds. What was going on? Vamps were solitary by nature. This was weird. And very, very bad.
I gave my best embarrassed smile. They wouldn't know I knew what they were. “Whoops. I'm looking for the theater. Wrong building. ”
Maybe if I made it back through the door fast enough, and then--click. Another four vamps had come in behind me and locked the door. I reached to my belt and hit the panic button on my communicator. Then I pulled out Tasey.
Taking a deep breath, I put on my best stern face. “You're all under arrest under statute three point seven of the International Paranormal Containment Agreement, Vampire Protocol. You are required to report to the nearest processing--”
“You're IPCA?” one of the vamps asked. The others were shifting nervously in place.
“Yes. I'm going to have to ask you to line up for tagging. ” I waited for them to start laughing.
“You aren't going to kill us?” the speaker asked, giving me a suspicious look.
“Why does everyone keep asking me that?” Seriously, did I look like some sort of psycho assassin? Maybe it was the pink sneakers. Or the heart earrings?
The vampires turned toward one another, holding a whispered conversation. I inched closer to the door, Tasey at my side, as I pushed the panic button over and over again. Lish would see it. She'd send help. She'd never failed me before, but if they didn't answer my distress call soon, I would have to do something I really didn't want to.
Freedom was a foot away when they turned back to me. The one who kept speaking, a tall vamp with a handsome curly-?haired glamour, shook his head. “Sorry. ” He bared his fangs in an apologetic grin. “We're glad you aren't what's hunting us, but we're no friends of IPCA. And we're all very, very thirsty. ”
“What, no flirting?” I asked, trying to buy time. “Aren't you going to at least try to be sexy? Think of all those vampire fans out there--they'd be so disappointed. ” I pulled out my silver knife. Probably should have paid more attention during my knife training. “Tell you what. Let me go and I promise not to tell anyone that you aren't suave. ”
“Sorry, kid. ”
“Okay. ” I held up the knife in one hand and Tasey in the other. “Guess I am here to kill you then. ” If I could get through enough of them--I just needed to get out of the room--I could outrun them.
Three jumped me and I flailed wildly. I hit two of them with jolts and they collapsed. The third tried to catch my arm, but I slashed at him with the knife and he drew back, howling in pain. I ran for the door but couldn't get it open. I turned and put my back against it.
“Everyone at once,” the leader shouted, and then it was a mass of hands--nice, normal flesh over the decay underneath--all grabbing at me. I struggled, but even vamps are strong enough when they outnumber you twenty to one. It only took a few seconds for them to have me pinned against the wall; I managed to hold on to Tasey and the knife but couldn't move to use them. The leader stood right in front of my face. I tried to look at his glamour, just his glamour, but the pure white eyes staring at me from sunken sockets were all I could focus on. He smiled. I wanted to cry.
My rescue would come too late.
“Aren't you going to scream?” he whispered, leaning in and tracing my neck with his lips. His dead, dead lips. I felt his mouth open and closed my eyes. All the horror from my first childhood run-?in with a vampire flooded back in. No one would save me. I was out of options. A single tear traced down my cheek.
“Lorethan!” I shouted. The vamp hesitated; clearly it wasn't what he was expecting. “I need you! NOW!”
The pause was enough to save my neck. White light exploded into the room and the vamps jumped back instinctively. A pair of arms wrapped themselves around my waist from behind and pulled me into the darkness.
“You called,” Reth murmured in my ear as he held me in the nothingness. “I knew you would. ” I could hear the smile in his voice, the triumph. I had sworn I'd never use his real name again, never call on him. Instead I'd just negated all the commands to stay away from me. And my wording--why had I said I needed him? He could twist that any way he wanted. But the memory of the vampire's lips on my neck made me shudder. It didn't matter tonight.
“Just take me home, okay?”
He tightened his arms around my waist, his torso pressed against my back. I could feel his heart through my shirt, its beat strong but far too slow. “Home then. ” He laughed his silver laugh.
That should have warned me.
I kept my eyes closed, trying to ignore his body against mine. Faeries couldn't care less about sex and physicality, but they did care about manipulation, and Reth knew how much I craved contact--any kind of contact. Growing up the way I had, there was never enough affection, never enough attention. More than Raquel, more than Lish, more than anyone, he knew how deeply lonely I was. I hated him for it.
I expected him to take my hand and walk; instead all I felt was a slight breeze, then it was bright and warm. I opened my eyes to a room. Not mine. The light was soft, emanating from an unidentifiable source. Elegant furniture was placed at random, and the walls appeared to be solid, pale rock. The fabrics were all silks and velvets; deep reds and royal purples with gold accents. There was no door.
“I said home. ”
He laughed again. “You didn't say whose. ” Furious and too tired to deal with any more faerie crap, I opened my mouth to tell him exactly where to take me and where he could go after that. I wasn't sure a faerie could obey a command to go to hell, but I was going to find out. Before I could say a word he lifted his slender hand and stroked my throat.