Warrior

Chapter 12-1

Chapter 12

“Is it him?”

I studied the features of the dead vampire that bore a striking resemblance to Eli. It had been a month since that night in the alley, but I’d never forget that vampire’s face or the hungry way he’d looked at Sara. The picture Chris had sent had given me hope the bastard was dead, even though I wanted the pleasure of ending him myself. But seeing the body up close, I knew I might still get that chance.

“No.” I turned away from the body to look at Chris. “It’s close, but not him.”

“Too bad.” He motioned for two warriors to take the body away. “So what time do we depart this fair city?”

We walked outside to where our bikes sat in the driveway. “Tomorrow afternoon, Wednesday at the latest. Sara needed a few days with her uncle. This isn’t easy for her.”

Chris pursed his lips. “It was never going to be easy, but your girl’s tougher than she looks.”

“That she is.” Knowing that hadn’t made it any easier to leave her today, even for a few hours. I hadn’t seen her since I dropped her off yesterday, but when I’d called her earlier today to let her know I’d be back this evening, she’d sounded so lost. I knew her talk with her uncle yesterday hadn’t gone well. Standing outside her apartment last night, I could feel her pain, and it had been hard not to go to her.

“You heading back already? I thought Maxwell said the pack would watch Sara.”

“He did, but I don’t want to spend too much time away from her now.” I was actually planning to introduce myself to her uncle and to extend an invitation for him to come to Westhorne with Sara. I hoped it would help him and Sara adjust to the changes in their lives. And I wanted to assure him that we would never try to keep her from her family.

My phone rang, and I pulled it out, expecting to see Tristan’s name again. He’d already called me three times since I let him know Sara had agreed to go to Westhorne. The last time I’d seen him this happy was when Madeline was born.

Sara’s name flashed on the screen, and my stomach instantly knotted. She wouldn’t call me unless something was wrong.

“Sara, what is it?”

“Something outside.” She gasped for breath, her terror almost palpable. “They’re trying to get in. The ward is holding, but Nate’s not here. If he comes home and…”

I swore and jumped on my bike. Chris grabbed my arm, and I almost roared at him. “Call Maxwell. Sara’s in trouble.”

I forced my voice to sound calm despite my heart trying to punch its way through my ribs. “We’re coming. Stay right where you are, and do not hang up. I’m going to stay on the phone until we get there. Do you hear me?”

“Maybe I should call Maxwell.”

“No, stay on the phone with me. Chris is calling them now.”

Hearing her voice and knowing she was safe were the only things keeping me from losing it. I yanked on my helmet, activated the Bluetooth headset, and started my bike.

“I’m on my way,” I said as I shot out of the driveway.

“Okay,” she rasped, sounding a little calmer.

God, I never should have left her. If anything happened to her…

“What was that?” I asked when I heard a sound on her end.

“The house phone. Maybe it’s Nate.” I heard her run through the house and pick up the other phone. “Hello?” Then, “Yes.”

There was a loud noise as she dropped the cell phone. “Sara?” When she didn’t answer, I yelled, “Sara, pick up the phone.”

“I’ll do it!” she cried. Her words made no sense until she said, “How do I know I can trust you to let him go?”

“Sara, it’s a trap. Don’t leave that apartment!” I shouted. They couldn’t get to her, so they were using the one thing they knew would lure her outside.

“No! I’ll come,” she said to the person on the other phone. Then there was silence.

“Don’t listen to him. Whatever he’s telling you, it’s a lie.”

Nothing.

“Goddamnit, Sara, answer me!” I bellowed.

There was a muffled sound as she picked up the phone. Her next words were like a knife twisting in my gut. “I’m sorry, Nikolas. I have to go.”

“Do not leave that apartment. I’ll be there in thirty minutes. Whatever it is, we can take care of it.”

“It’ll be too late. They have Nate, and they’re going to kill him if I’m not there in ten minutes. I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but I will not let Nate die because of them.”

“Sara, think about this,” I implored. “They are not going to just let your uncle go once they have you. If you do this, you could die.”

“He’ll die for sure if I don’t go. I’m not going to hide here and do nothing while he’s killed. I couldn’t live with that.” The resignation in her voice scared the hell out of me. “You were right. All I do is put the people I love in danger. It has to stop now.”

“Sara, no, listen to –”

The line went dead.

I called her cell phone, and it went to voice mail. I hit the gas and my bike shot forward. I tried her phone again even though I knew she wasn’t going to answer. Sara would do anything for the people she loved, even if it put her own life in danger.

It had to be Yusri al-Hawwash. A man who would risk the trolls’ wrath would think nothing of hurting Sara or her uncle to get what he wanted. I tried not to think about the other option, that Eli had finally found a way to get to her. The thought of her in his hands made the blood pound in my ears and my stomach churn violently.

I had never known this kind of fear existed until today. “God, please keep her safe. I can’t lose her.”

Torture took on a new meaning for me as I counted down the miles one by one. In my mind, I replayed every conversation we’d had. I saw her eyes flash in anger when we fought, and the way her face lit up when she smiled. I watched her battle a crocotta, defend a troll, heal a dying werewolf. She was unlike anyone I’d ever met, and within the span of a month, she had become everything to me.

I recognized Maxwell’s truck outside Sara’s apartment when I roared up. I leapt off my bike and took the stairs three at a time, bursting through the front door without knocking.

Sara’s uncle and Maxwell were in the kitchen when I stormed into the apartment, and it was all I could do not to punch the Alpha for not protecting her like he’d promised.

“Who are you?” Nate Grey demanded before I could speak.

“Nikolas Danshov. I’m a friend of Sara’s.”

Recognition dawned in his eyes. “She told me about you.” His voice grew hoarse. “Please, find her.”

“I will. Tell me what happened.”

He cleared his throat. “I had some appointments in Portland, and I was on my way home when two men grabbed me at the grocery store. One was German and the other was Middle Eastern. They took me to an empty building on Crescent Street where a man named Haism Bakr was waiting for us. He told me he had business with Sara, and that if I behaved myself, I’d be home in no time. I asked him what he wanted with Sara, but he wouldn’t say. I knew it had to have something to do with the things she told me last night. She said she had to leave because people were after her.”

His voice cracked. “Now they have her.”

It was little consolation that the sheik’s men had Sara and not the vampire. The sheik wanted her to try to cure him, so he’d keep her alive. If he valued what was left of his life, he’d keep her unharmed.

“What happened next?”

“Haism’s men left and came back a little while later with Sara. Then Sara and Haism talked about his employer. He told her the sheik was angry with her because she stopped him from stealing the young trolls. He yelled at her, but she stood up to him. She was so brave, even when…”

Coldness spread through me. “When what?”

Nate’s voice shook. “When the vampire called. She was frightened, but she never showed it to them. Haism said he was giving us to the vampire to settle a debt.”

Oh God, no.

“That bastard, Haism, wanted to frighten her, to make her suffer,” Nate spat. “He was enjoying himself.”

My Mori roared in my head, and I promised it we would kill that man with our bare hands.

“How did you get away, Nate?” Maxwell asked.

“It was Sara. She made a deal with Haism. If he let us go, she’d give him some troll bile she had stashed away. The German man brought me home, and Sara went with Haism and the other man to get the bile.”

Hope sparked in my chest. I didn’t believe Haism would let Sara go when he got the bile, but she was smart and she knew we’d be looking for her. “How long ago did she leave with him?”

“Less than twenty minutes.”

“They could still be here. She’ll stall him to give us time to find her.” I looked at Maxwell. “We need to block every way out of this town.”

“As soon as Chris called, I sent the pack out. They’re covering all the exits and the harbor. The whole pack knows her scent, and my best trackers are trying to pick up her trail.”

“Good.” I started for the door. “Let me know the second they find something.”

“Where are you going?” Nate called after me.

“To get her back and to kill anyone who touched her,” I vowed coldly.

I called Chris as I jumped on my bike. “Yusri al-Hawwash’s men took her. They haven’t been gone long, so they’re still in New Hastings.”

“How do you know they’re still here?”

“Sara promised them troll bile. They won’t leave town without it.”

“Smart girl,” he said. “I’ll be there in five minutes. We’ll find her, Nikolas.”

I hung up and started my bike.

“Nikolas,” Maxwell called from the top of the stairs. “Francis picked up Sara’s scent on the old mining road south of town. He said it’s fresh.”

“I know where that is.” I peeled away from the building before he could say anything else. I called Chris on the way and told him to meet me there.

I spotted a white Cadillac half a mile down the mining road. Pulling up behind it, I saw Francis crouched beside a body on the ground.

“Vampire got him.” He pointed at the mutilated man as he pulled out a cell phone. “More than one by the look of it. I need to let Maxwell know.”

My stomach turned to ice. Only mature vampires could walk in the daylight, even on an overcast and foggy day like today.

Eli was here.

Moving with demon speed, I donned my harness and swords. “When Chris gets here, send him to the cliffs.”

“How do you know where they went?”

“I just do.”

I ran into the woods. The cliffs were Sara and Remy’s special place, and that was where she’d hidden the damn bile.

It wasn’t hard to follow their trail. I stopped to study the two sets of footprints in the dirt, and my rage grew when I saw the smaller set was made by stockinged feet. A little farther on, I found where she had lain on the ground; the same place she had escaped from her bonds and run.

Moving swiftly, I came to a stream. There were blood smears on a fallen log, and I told myself she had cut her feet while running and wasn’t suffering worse injuries.

I kept moving, and suddenly I could smell the ocean.

Then I felt her.

I burst from the trees and stopped dead in the middle of a small field. Ahead of me on the cliffs milled a dozen or more vampires, and in the middle of them stood Sara and Eli.

Red colored my vision when I saw his possessive grip on her arm. I pulled my swords free of the harness and welcomed the rage descending over me.

Sara spun, and her gaze locked with mine.

Solmi! my demon roared.

For a moment, the world faded until there was just her and me and the bond that stretched between us. My eyes greedily drank her in. Bruised and bloody, wearing torn, dirty clothes, she was still the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

Eli’s shout broke the spell that held me. “He is only one. Risa, Heath, Lorne – take care of this.”

Three vampires came at me. Circling me, they stayed out of reach of my swords, looking for an opening.