Page 60 of Blood Submission

Chapter24

Laney huddled on the mattress,the slightly warmer blanket Dante had brought her before he’d left wrapped around her shoulders. She’d waited for him to say something, to show some emotion…happiness that she was still there, surprise, anything. But he hadn’t said a word, wouldn’t even look at her. Just walked in, dropped off the blanket and food, and left again. He’d even brought her a jacket. A jacket she wouldn’t need if she were staying.

Maybe he didn’t want her to stay. He’d never really said that he did. Only that it would “behoove him” if he kept her around. Maybe the connection she felt was one-sided.

So as soon as he’d left, she’d put the coat on and slung her backpack over her shoulder. Tromping over to the tunnel that led to his torture room and the way out, Laney had every intention of getting the hell out of there. But as she stood there with hot candle wax dripping onto her hand, she couldn’t bring herself to leavehim.

He needed her. If she left, she’d be condemning him to die. She’d be responsible for another person’s death. But more than that, she was discovering it was possible that she needed him, too.

After the death of her son, Laney had died with him. Not physically, of course. Physically she was still in this world. She still woke up every day, went to work, smiled, talked, even flirted at times. But inside she was as dead as the babe she’d held in her arms. She shunned anyone that tried to get too close. Whenever she got asked out for a date, she would politely but firmly turn them down, the fear that she would hurt someone again always lingering in the back of hermind.

The only thing that brought her any semblance of joy were the hours she’d spent hiking the trails, just trying to forget, trying to lose her memories in the harsh beauty of the desert. It brought her temporary comfort, but it never lastedlong.

She smiled. The desert had also brought her Dante. And now he knew all of her darkest secrets, and he hadn’t judged her for them in the slightest. He didn’t fearher.

It didn’t forgive what she had done, but since her confession to him, she felt like she could breathe again. Shouldn’t she do the same for him? She understood what made him behave the way he did where humans were concerned. In the short time she’d known him, she’d seen that he didn’t feel anything halfway. Whether it was a vampire thing or just a Dante thing, he was quick to react and his emotions ran strong. Those that had wronged him were treated to the full fury of his wrath.

Would his love be just as fierce? Was he even capable oflove?

Laney was surprised to find that she wanted to find out. But if she was going to stay with him, there needed to be some changes. He couldn’t really expect her to just hang out down here with no one to see and nothing to do but wait for him to honor her with his presence. She would go mad. If it weren’t for the thick copy of The Iliad and the Odyssey sitting by his bed, she would be stir-crazy already.

Dante had only been gone maybe thirty minutes or so when she heard a sound in the tunnel behind her. Fearing rats, Laney jumped to her feet. She hated rats. Her skin crawled as she looked around frantically for something to smack it with. Spotting her backpack against the wall where she’d dropped it, she picked it up again, hefting the weight. It woulddo.

The sounds came closer. It sounded big; too big to be a rodent. She worried her lower lip between her teeth. What if it wasn’t a rat? What if it was some other animal that had found its way down here? Like a stray dog? Or a bear? She’d heard there were bears in this area, although why a bear would be wandering around the city of Seattle she didn’tknow.

Whatever it was, it was definitely bigger than your normal rat. The shuffling got louder as it neared the room, and now Laney could hear other small noises accompanying it, along with a stench the likes of which she’d only smelled when driving past road kill that had been rotting in the sun for a fewdays.

Cold sweat beaded on her upper lip as a hand appeared out of the hole, bony fingers curling around the bricks to hoist out the body it was attached to. It was wearing a jacket with a hood that covered its face. Coming completely out of the tunnel, it stood, and Laney’s heart stopped as she found herself face to face with a living corpse.

It appeared something else had found Dante’s means of escape.

She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out, for the thing had spotted her standing there and it was on her before she had time to draw breath. There was a flash of yellow fangs as it reared back, preparing to strike, and she had a sudden flashback of another monster doing this exact same thing less than a week before. Only Dante hadn’t smelled like death. He’d smelled warm and vital, even as emaciated and dusty as he’d been. Squeezing her eyes shut, she braced herself for the pain, when the thing suddenly releasedher.

“Get away from her, you fool! We can useher!”

Laney opened her eyes to find another creature, not quite as decayed, eyeing her up and down. It was another male. Or at least it used to be. Milky eyes peered at her from underneath the covering of its hoodie. Evil seeped from its pores. She stood perfectly still, her blood racing so fast she saw spots, as it strolled up to her and…smelledher?

“She belongs to one of the vampires,” the zombie, or whatever it was, told the others. Laney counted five of them altogether. “I can smell him on her, and in her.” Turning away, he looked around the room. “An old vampire if his décor is any indication.” He smiled, a gruesome slash of what used to be his mouth. “This will save us a lot of time and trouble, boys. The human will come with us somewhere a little more open. The vampires would give their lives for their mates. We’ll trade her for the lastclue.”

One of the others spoke. “What if they won’t give itup?”

“They will,” the leader assured him. Pointing to one of the others, he said, “You. Bring the female.”

“No! Leave me alone!” Laney struggled as one grabbed her from behind and another took her bag. Keeping his back to her, he unzipped it and dug inside as she tried to take it back. Not seeing anything that interested him, he tossed it onto the floor while the one that held her threw her over his shoulder.

Laney kicked and screamed to no avail as they entered the passageway that would take them to the cave-in and out to the elevator.

“Shut her up,” the leadersaid.

Laney braced her hands on its back and lifted her head, trying to see through her unbound hair. A fist that felt more like a boulder slammed into the side of her face, whipping her head around. Her ears rang as spots filled her vision, and the copper taste of blood flooded over her tongue and dripped down her lip. Shaking her head to clear it, she lifted herself up again and opened her mouth to scream when another fist smashed her in thehead.

There was no pain this time. Just peaceful blackness.

---