Vampire's Soul (Vampire Queen 14)

Worst case, Goddard rabbited with Dovia, Cai, and his cronies, and escaped being caught. Disappeared deep into these mountains, deeper than any humanoid knew, the way Trads could. People thought the oceans were uncharted. There were places no one went except Trads, Fae. Dinosaurs that people thought were extinct. Or shifters that vampires thought no longer existed. So yeah, maybe Rand could track him there. He wouldn't give up.

If that worst-case scenario happened, then Cai would have to help Dovia, be there, protect her as much as he could, look for other chances. And hope it wouldn't take until the baby was full term. But if it came to that, maybe he could manipulate Goddard enough to let Dovia and Cai go after she had the baby, get her away from him.

They had no nurturing qualities. Without its mother, the infant would die, which was the best thing that could happen to it in this crowd. Woohoo, kid, you win a first-class ticket right back to the Hall of Souls, jump on the train and leave Psycho Fuckhead Town behind... But only after the kid suffered, and that didn't sit well with Cai. He remembered the spark in Dovia's eyes, the tightening of her chin, a mirror of the look in her mother's face. Leona. Leona had seemed broken, overwhelmed, but he'd seen her through Rand's eyes and knew broken wasn't helpless. Hell yeah, Cai knew that firsthand.

Dovia wouldn't leave the baby behind. But it wouldn't matter. Unless they could get Cai to turn her into a baby machine again, they'd kill her soon after she gave them what they wanted.

Or she'd kill herself if they did try to make her into a baby machine. But she wouldn't have to do that. Cai would become a one-hit wonder, only able to make it happen that once, by sheer dumb luck and desperation for sanctuary from the Council vampires. That'd be his story.

Shadows. Shadows falling upon him, increasing the shade, but it didn't help. God, he wished it did.

"Cai." It was Rand, in human form, beautifully naked, wrapping him up in blankets. "This is going to hurt. I'm sorry."

He almost laughed, and it came out as a hysterical gurgle that tasted like blood. Then he was in the full sun, he could feel it through the blanket. He would have done some more screaming if his throat hadn't given out long before. He was going to turn to ash. But Rand moved faster than he knew Rand could move. They were in the forest, the deep forest, and Rand laid him down inside a pit of cool, cool earth. A wonderfully deep one.

The wolf had dug him a hole. It was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for Cai.

They left one blanket on him, probably thinking it was best to keep the dirt away from his wounds, but he struggled weakly against it, and Rand understood. They took it off him, put him bare into the ground. Wolves were shoveling the dirt back over him with fast trundling paws. Soft, cakelike crumbles, mixed with dried leaves and debris that abraded his skin where they made contact, but then they had his lower body covered and it was okay. They blanketed him all the way to his neck, his head comfortably nested in cushiony soil, like a mother's breast and twice as welcome. A wolf stood at Rand's shoulder and Rand offered his wrist to him. The wolf obliged, snapping down on it to create an open wound.

Cai would have snarled at the wolf for biting what was his, but what Rand was doing penetrated his fogged brain. Cai only had one functioning fang, and he was weak as something embarrassing, like a kitten. Rand brought his bleeding wrist to his lips and let a few drops of blood fall there, igniting his even weaker hunger.

"Drink, vampire. We'll need you for the fight to come. Unless you've given up on me."

He never gave up. Because giving up meant the bastards had won, and they were never getting that goddamn satisfaction. He was gifted with a flash of Rand's tight smile, but it didn't reach the male's eyes. He cupped a gentle hand under Cai's skull. Cai freed his arms from the loosely packed earth enough to grip Rand's wrist with both hands. They were trembling so hard, he could barely get his mouth on the flesh. Rand steadied him.

Good thing he'd already made that cut, because Cai was pretty sure, once his hunger roused, he would have almost torn Rand's wrist in half to get to that blood. He was like a fledgling, his body so stressed and wounded, the blood it needed limitless. More than Rand had. He couldn't stop himself though. Couldn't...

Rand, don't let me drink too much. Get...lightheaded, stop me. I will drain you. You'll be the one laying out of this fight.

Rand had an answer to that, too. Fane had shifted to human and was next to him. When Rand extricated his wrist, Fane had already cut his own with a pocket knife and replaced the food source at Cai's mouth. The male didn't actively engage Cai's gaze. Cai could feel his reluctance, borderline revulsion, at being a vampire's food. However, the way he looked toward Rand said his regard for the other wolf was what made him do it.

Him and Rand, yin and yang. Sweet and sour. Timmy and Lassie. Everyone had found Timmy intensely annoying and wouldn't have minded if he stayed down in that well while Lassie hooked up with some hot supermodel as his Mistress, since the actor dog Lassie had been male. Following her adventures every week...

Shut up, vampire. Drink. Be easy. Rand stroked Cai's hair back from his burned forehead as he fed. His long fingers gathered more earth around Cai, his jaw and ears, framing his face. The wolves had mounded more dirt on him below the neck, so only his hands and a portion of his forearms were visible where he held onto Fane. Cai noticed a bunch of wolves milling in the shadows of the forest. Laying down, sniffing the air, waiting. They had a fierceness to them, an edginess. A war party. They were ready to kick some vampire ass. Glory hallelujah, except if they did it after dusk, they'd all be killed. Because when he and Dovia would be ready to move, so would Goddard and his idiots.

"Typical vampire. Thinking you're the biggest, baddest thing out there. Don't worry about that right now. We've figured it out." Rand continued to caress his hair, lightly touching his face. "Here I thought you were as devoted to males as I am, and you fantasize about Dominatrix supermodels."

The skin seemed less raw now, so the contact felt good. Cai's tongue still wasn't working for talking, partly because it was occupied with blood. He was drinking from Fane's son Stalker, donor number three. But he rallied enough to respond, at least in his mind.

I'm very eclectic. I sometimes fantasize about tree knotholes, particularly if they're shaped just right. Is Daegan...

"Yes. His servant is transporting him as we speak, to put him as close to us by nightfall as possible."

Cai let go and nodded his thanks to Stalker, who withdrew with Fane to join the rest of the pack. Apparently, their communication would be with Rand alone. Cai didn't rate direct conversation.

They don't want to be here.

"They see little reason to fight for vampires," Rand acknowledged. "But they'll fight because I asked. Because I told them an innocent is an innocent, whether vampire, human or wolf. And because Fane didn't realize the vampires had human captives." Shadows crossed Rand's gaze. "He said the distance they maintained and the vampire scent masked it. When they caught a whiff of human, they simply assumed it was the remains of their feedings. If he had known, he would have done more."

One died this afternoon.

Rand's mouth tightened. "Blessings upon her soul," he murmured.

He said it like he meant it. Like he thought there was something out there that could take care of a soul after death, make everything all right. Crazy dog.

"Wolf," Rand corrected. "Don't insult me, vampire. I can kick your ass right now without hardly trying."

It almost made Cai smile, but his mind was starting to engage. We need more of a plan, don't we?

"Some diversionary tactics would be useful. With your knowledge of the Trads, we thought you might have an idea or two."

"Here I was, thinking you were feeding me because you liked having me around." They were the first words Cai had attempted. Though they came out rasping and broken, like a bad cell signal, he was pleased to see Rand's eyes crease with humor.

"You know far better than that, vampire." Then Rand sobered. "Any ideas?"

> Cai sighed. "No. Yeah. Hell, I don't know. I'm used to doing this by the seat of my pants."

"You don't say." The quick flash of humor on Rand's face made Cai want to lift a hand to it, touch the male's strong jaw.

He tried, and noticed that his arm, while still weak and trembling, didn't look as burned, though he could sure as fuck still feel the sun, even if it was screened by the forest canopy. He needed to get all the way under.

The skin was sloughing off like a snake's. While a good sign, it also put him at the bottom of the barrel when it came to being an appealing fuck.

"Yes, rolling you over and having my way with your ass is uppermost in my mind."

Hell, he wasn't blocking his thoughts from Rand. But he guessed that was okay. It might be easier for Rand to ladle ideas out of the soup in his brain than for Cai to form coherent sentences. But then Cai got something. A pleasant surprise, proof that his brain was working.

Okay, I've got an idea. If it works, your wolves won't have to fight, at least until Daegan gets here. It's just Daegan?