Page 64 of Blood Submission

He laughed again. Tightening his grip on her jaw until she whimpered in pain, he whispered in her ear, “And that’s where you’re wrong, honeybunch. He is only a vampire, and as old as he is, he’s nowhere near as ancient and powerful as I am. Mark my words, you little cunt. He will not survive this night.”

Only a vampire? What was older and stronger than a vampire? Laney gave up trying to remove its hand from her breast, and concentrated on watching the spot where Dante was about to appear. The pavement suddenly shook so hard it buckled beneath her feet. Her captor stumbled, laughing like a maniac as his hand fell from her breast, unable to keep his grip onher.

Suddenly, two shots rang out. Out of the corner of her eye, Laney saw the two creatures on her right fall forward. They had large holes in the backs of their skulls. As she watched, blood formed a puddle on the pavement where their faces lay. “Dante,” she shrieked, scared shitless that he would shoot the thing holding her from behind next, and possibly her in the process.

A familiar gravelly voice, tight with unrestrained anger, echoed around them. “Release the female, Steven.”

Laney winced as Steven’s fingers dug into her jaw. “You know the game, vampire. Give me what wewant.”

She noticed he left off the “and we will let her go” part.

Long seconds passed in silence. When nothing happened, the creature, Steven, huffed an impatient breath in her ear. Suddenly, her head was wrenched to the side. Something sharp scraped along herneck.

A feral growl came out of the mist coming off the water, and a second later, a wooden box clattered along the pavement toward them at high speed. It slid to her sneakered foot and stopped.

“Pick it up and hand it to me,” Steven told one of the others. He released her jaw to take the box, but one arm was still wrapped tight around her waist.

“Now, let her go,” Dante growled.

Laney looked around frantically, but she couldn’t pinpoint where hewas.

“I don’t think so, vampire. And as a matter of fact, since you gave us the box without a fight, maybe I won’t kill you.” Then he laughed like that was the best joke he’d ever heard. “No, no. I’m kidding. Of course I’m going to kill you. But I think I’ll let the girl live. We were actually just talking about our new life together once I regain power over this world, isn’t that right, sweetheart?”

Laney cringed as wet lips smacked her on the cheek.

A strong breeze blew her hair into her face as something flew past her, too fast for her to track, but her captor stumbled while spinning her around in his arms. He regained his footing again and then she was lifted off the ground and they were moving.

A roar of anguish echoed around them, and Laney kicked with her feet, trying to twist her body around and out of its grasp. Pieces of flesh slid away as she clawed at her captor’s face. When they stopped just a few seconds later, she was left hanging by one arm with her feet dangling mid-air. She kicked out hard, trying to loosen hisgrip.

“Laney! STOP! Don’t fuckingmove!”

The order came from somewhere far below her. Pushing her hair frantically out of the way with her free hand, Laney found Dante standing far below her near the hull of the ship. He was completely out in the open. Looking up the length of her arm to the hand holding her just below the elbow, she found Steven sitting casually on one of the iron beams of the shipping crane. Leaning to the side, he swung her body around in a small circle.

“Yes, Laney. I wouldn’t wiggle around too much if I were you. One small slip….” His mouth formed an exaggerated “O” as he opened his hand. Laney’s scream was cut off with a jerk as he caught her again around the wrist. Her shoulder twisted painfully in its socket as she spun slowly back and forth like a child’sdoll.

Dante was directly below now. He smiled up at her, but it wasn’t a pleasant expression. “Hang tight, little mouse.”

Her shoulder burned, but there wasn’t much she could do about it. As she stared down at him with desperate longing, the other two came out from hiding and were creeping up on Dante from behind. “Dante, behind you,” she shouted.

Without taking his eyes from her, Dante pointed a large pistol behind him and fired. The thing sounded more like a canon than a gun when it went off, and Laney watched as the creature on the left jerked backwards in surprise and put a hand over the gaping hole in its chest. It wiped the blood off on its pant leg and kept coming.

“Drop her if you want, Steven,” Dante said, and Laney’s pulse ramped up to double-speed, afraid he would call his bluff and do exactly that. “I’ll make sure I catchher.”

Somehow that didn’t make her feel better. Laney twisted her hand around and wrapped it around her captor’s wrist, hanging on for dear life. She felt exposed muscle and bone under her fingers, but didn’t loosen hergrip.

“I wouldn’t press my luck if I were you,” Steven taunted. “I meant what Isaid.”

Dante smiled again. “Try it, asshole. I dare you.” Spinning around, he lifted both pistols and shot the two things creeping up on him point blank in the face. They flew backward and landed hard on the pavement. Dante turned back around, looking up at them. “Your move,” he growled.

Not the response she would’ve went for, butokay.

Her captor cackled with delight. Then shooting pain burst from her tender shoulder socket as he threw her one-handed into the air and caught her around the middle. Sitting her on his lap, she cried out as he wrenched her head to the side and hissed in her ear. She felt the sharp tips of its fangs push through herskin.

Below her, Dante lost-his-shit. Screaming with rage, he disappeared, and suddenly she was being jostled around as the thing holding her jerked and grunted, fighting to keep his hold on both her and the box. Sharp pains shot down her neck as its fangs ripped through her flesh and tore their wayout.

With a satanic growl, one of its hands flattened on her back, and she was suddenly catapulted off his lap and flying through the air toward the water. Wind whipped around her in hurricane-like speeds, her breath knocked from her as she hit the cold water with such force that she tumbled head over heels underwater.

The weight of her clothes immediately pulled her down into the cold, dark depths. The salt stung her eyes and burned the open wound on her neck. Ignoring the pain, Laney kicked her feet and paddled with her arms. Spinning around blindly in the water, she started to panic as she tried to find the way up to the surface. Her lungs burned to breathe, and she sucked in a mouthful of salt water.

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