Vampire’s Dilemma. Penny Ash
Shel nodded. Fair enough. He headed for the front. He counted four men, all with guns. He wondered how many of Sergei’s men had actually seen a Vampire or a Werewolf, much less confronted an angry one. Screams sounded from the direction DeLong had gone. Shel smiled, showing his teeth.
The man closest had time to raise his gun before Shel snatched it from his hand, breaking the man’s fingers in the process. He turned it on the others and fired. Two went down, the scent of their blood filling the air like cloying perfume. The third dove for cover. The man he’d disarmed charged Shel. He sidestepped and shot the man.
The front door was closed. Shel kicked it in to find two more men. He smiled, letting them see his teeth. One fainted, the other turned and ran. Shel continued into the house. The place was an older open plan house. It would make finding Lucy easier. He tested the air. Her scent was faint but there. He followed it deeper into the place.
* * * *
Lucy heard the distant popping and stopped running to listen and catch her breath. She realized it must be gunfire. They had discovered her gone. Adrenaline rushed through her. Lucy ran again. She could see lights ahead. She hoped it was an all-night store or gas station.
When Lucy got to the place, she found a rundown little convenience store with a couple gas pumps. The stitch in her side doubled her over. Lucy gasped for air, trying not to black out. Hands on Lucy’s arms pulled her toward the store. Someone eased her into a plastic lawn chair and someone else pushed a bottle of water into her hand.
“What de hell happen to you, girl?” Lucy couldn’t place the accent right away. I must look awful. Lucy looked into the dark eyes of a nice looking man with the longest dreads she’d ever seen.
“Kidnapped,” she managed to get out in between gasps. “Off the boat.”
The man frowned. “Who?”
“Russian…” She stopped at the man’s raised hand.
He turned to someone in the small crowd around her. “Call de police.”
* * * *
The office was as cluttered as the one in Sergei’s Miami house. The Russian stood behind an ornate desk.
“Where is she?” Shel asked, his voice cold and quiet.
Sergei sneered. “Dead. As you will be in a moment.”
Shel froze for a heartbeat. He’d known going in Lucy was probably dead. Still, to hear Sergei say it shook Shel more than he thought it would. He narrowed his eyes in pain, he would mourn later. After he killed Sergei. In Shel’s peripheral vision, Shel saw movement. He turned enough to see another man and a woman. Madeline. Shel’s vision went red.
The man with Madeline stepped in front of her and leveled his gun. Shel grabbed the man’s hand, twisting until he felt bones snapping. Shel jerked the man toward him, opening his mouth to bite. Movement from the desk stopped him. Shel turned, pulling his victim in front of him.
White faced and eyes wide with fear, Sergei fired. The man jerked with the impact of the bullets. Shel raised the gun he held, returning fire. Sergei lunged to one side clutching his shoulder. Shel pushed the dead man away. Following the movement, he aimed and squeezed the trigger. With an incoherent scream of rage, Madeline’s arms snaked around him. Shel’s shot went wild, missing Sergei. Madeline dug her dagger-like nails into Shel’s arm. Pain seared his shoulder.
He tried to shake her off. Madeline clawed at Shel’s neck, trying to tear out his throat. The impact of Madeline’s attack pushed Shel against the desk. Shel tripped on her dead companion fending off Madeline’s hand. With a desperate shove backward, Shel slammed her into the wall. Madeline’s grip loosened for an instant. Shel wrenched free, her nails ripping through fabric and flesh. He backhanded her and Madeline fell back, stunned.
Shel stumbled around the desk. Sergei cowered in a corner holding his gun on Shel with a shaking hand. Shel gave his wounded shoulder a glance, touching the blood. He brought his bloody fingers to his lips and licked them, then spat. Sergei fired. Shel hardly noticed the bullets hitting the vest he wore. He caught Sergei’s shirt collar and dragged the screaming man up off the floor.
“I told you I’d drink your blood.” Shel bit.
When Sergei stopped struggling Shel let the dead Helsing fall to the floor. He turned. Madeline was nowhere to be seen. Shel felt hollow. She had won again. Shel stood motionless for what seemed like forever, numb to everything.
Lucy was somewhere in the house, probably only a few feet away but Shel didn’t want to see her. He wanted to remember Lucy as she had been in his arms. An image of Lucy on the beach floated, watery before Shel’s eyes. He squeezed his eyes shut as the cold empty pain of grief filled him. Somehow, Shel forced his eyes open again. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. We were supposed to be together forever.
A soft sound filled Shel’s ears, like something unable to draw in enough air. He turned to go, leaving, moving on although he had no clue how to get through the rest of his life. When Shel stepped outside, the breeze chilled his face and Shel realized he was crying. In the distance, he saw the flash of blue, red and white lights, police and emergency vehicles. Shel wondered who had called them.
Then they were swarming over Shel, police rushing past, paramedics making him sit on a gurney while they cut his shirt off to get to the wounds on his shoulder and back. One apologized for causing Shel pain but he didn’t feel anything. “Shock,” the other said and tried to make Shel lie down. He didn’t move, staring at the house unblinking until a wall of red and blue and tan blocked it from view.
“Where’s Lucy?” the deep bass voice asked and Shel looked up into the face of DeLong. Shel opened his mouth to explain but the realization Lucy was gone stole his breath. His heart cracked. Shel would never be free of the curse. The world tilted in slow motion then hands were on him holding him steady. Shel fisted his hands in the cool impersonal white sheet beneath him, squeezing his eyes shut against the world.
Chapter Twelve: I Can See Clearly Now
Lucy stepped out of the taxi in front of the Bait and Switch Charter Boat Company. The closed sign still hung in the window. The door had been nailed shut with a board across it. Lucy glanced at the taxi as it pulled away. With a soft exhalation, she started toward the dock. When Lucy had asked the police had told her Sheldon’s boat had been brought in and moored in its slip at the marina.
Lucy expected to feel something when she saw the old yacht, but the intenseness of the pain surprised her. For a moment, Lucy thought the figure she saw on deck was Shel. She blinked and realized the person was too big to be Shel. With a frown, Lucy picked up her pace. Well, whoever they are they can get off that boat right now.
The man on the deck blinked at her and smiled. Lucy recognized Shel’s Werewolf friend. “Well. Glad to see you’re not dead.”
“I got away.” Lucy walked up the gangplank.
“Obviously. And I’d love to hear all about it one day. But right now I think you need to go tell him.”
“They said… I thought…” Lucy broke off, confusion mingled with hope.
“They lie. A lot. If he asks I’ll be back later, now go.” DeLong pushed himself out of the deck chair that was almost too small for him and started for the dock.
Lucy stopped the Werewolf, touching his arm. DeLong gave her hand a pat, sniffed, grinned, and pointed toward the darkened entrance into the salon. She nodded and went.
* * * *
Shel heard DeLong’s voice and wondered whom the Werewolf was talking to. Even with his heightened hearing Shel couldn’t make out the words. Shel forced himself to sit up. His shoulder had healed it was his heart that never would
Footsteps sounded from the salon. Shel frowned. The tread was too light to be DeLong. Maybe it’s DeLong’s wife? Movement outside the cabin’s window made Shel turn his head. DeLong was walking down the dock, Shel would recognize