“Don’t hurt him.”
Steve’s voice dropped to a growl, barely recognizable. “Aura. Get back inside. Do not come out again.”
She glanced at him, then back at Volkov. “Look, just- the girl, James’ girl? She’s got powers. He called her a scribe? She can read everything hidden under your skin! You can have her, I’ll give you the codes to the bunker and she’s yours. Just, leave. Leave Steve and me alone and you can have her. You can’t get in without it, but I’ll bet you already know that. There’s some things even a vampire can’t tear apart.”
“AURA!” Steve bellowed, shock turning his blue eyes silver. “Stop! Stop talking! We’re not giving him anything. Get back inside!”
I opened my mouth to say the same, but nothing but blood came out. Volkov threw back his head, his noxious laughter wilting the grass he stood on.
“How delightful. I’m pleased by your willingness to surrender her so easily. Your loyalty to your master is to be admired.” He took a casual step or two closer to the safe room, away from me.
“No, don’t…” my words were mush, black blood coming out of my mouth and eyes. “Don’t toush- touch her. Take me, Volkov!”
The bastard ignored me, baring his yellowing fangs at Aura. “This is entertaining, to be sure. Your master will hate you for betraying my child’s thrall. James will hate his friend for giving her to me.” He lifted his head and scented deeply, eyes closed in pleasure. “I smell her. Such a delicacy. Another pleasure I will savor.”
Trembling from head to foot, Aura still pushed, “You promise? You promise to leave us alone?”
Lashing out with one arm, Volkov threw Steve across the clearing as the blond charged him. He landed against another tree with a groan, sliding down the trunk. “Aura,” he managed, “don’t.”
Dragging myself up, I lumbered toward the bunker. I wouldn’t get there in time. My darling I’m so sorry…. My useless left arm flopped against my side as I howled at Volkov, trying to make him turn and come at me. To move away from the bunker, away from her. This can’t happen. Not to Meghan.
Aura had backed up nearly to the door of the bunker, there was a puddle of blood, shining luridly in the reflected firelight.
“She’s bleeding pretty badly, you better decide what you’re doing with her.”
Volkov’s grin stretched across his face, widening it horribly and displaying a mouthful of teeth as jagged and cruel as a wolf’s. “Give me the code. You have my word.” He even bowed slightly, putting his hand to his chest in a courtly way.
Steve was trying to pull himself out of the wreckage of the tree. One chunk of wood had splintered through his thigh, pinning him down. I staggered faster, trying to shout and drown out Aura’s voice as she recited the code. This couldn’t be real. She would never give up a friend. She couldn’t.
My leg collapsed back under me, sending me back into the ashes and the dirt, so I began to crawl to Meghan. “Take me!” I screamed my vocal cords bloody and still my Sire wouldn’t turn.
“Aura,” Steve’s speech was garbled with blood and a broken tooth or two. “Please. You can’t give up Meghan. Get inside honey,please.”He was sobbing in desperation as he struggled to yank himself free from the wood embedded in his thigh.
The steel door swung smoothly open, a slime trail of blood from where my poor girl had tried to drag herself away to hide inside the safe room. It was pitifully clear in the fluorescent lighting. Just a step inside, and Volkov turned back in fury.
“Where is she! You treacherous little cunt! I’ll-”
He never got a chance to say what he’d do, because propped on the opposite side of the door was his defeat in the form of my Meghan, battered and bloody, with just enough strength to fire a Desert Eagle, its vicious ammunition tearing through his chest and driving him backward with shaky, staccato steps as the bullets kept coming. As he hit the far wall, Aura yanked my girl free from the doorway and slammed the thick steel door shut, engaging the electronic locks.
Thunderous strikes hammered the inside of the bunker, but Steve chuckled weakly as he finally made it to the girls, who were clinging to each other.
“I should spank you for leaving the bunker, Aura. But that was genius, you and your guns," he said lovingly, "But you are still in so much trouble.”
I finally found enough strength to move, rolling over with a groan and instantly calling out. “Meghan? How badly are you hurt?”
Meghan…
I looked over at him, seeing his eyes widen with what might be actual fear when he spotted me. Waving with one hand, I managed, “Hey, honey. How was your day?” I found this hilarious for some reason and I was still giggling as his hand cradled my cheek and the feel of it, the solid comfort, was the last thing I remembered.
Oh, to think I used to be a morning person.
It was my first thought when my eyes opened. And in the seconds it took to scan the room I realized what had happened.
The door slammed open and James raced through it, stopping when he found me standing in front of the mirror, fingers digging into my cheeks like claws and screaming at my reflection.Just screaming and screaming.
Whirling, I charged at him. “What did youdoto me?” I sobbed, “What the fuck did you do, you bastard!”
He put his arms around me, pinning my flailing arms and buried his face in my hair. “It was the only way to save your life,” he whispered. “You were dying, we couldn’t get you to a hospital in time. I had to. I’m sorry. I would have asked your consent, I would have, but-”
