Lora Leigh - Primal

“She’s poison to my kind.”

“Jill can’t be blamed for what’s in her blood. It wasn’t her decision.”

“Doesn’t change anything. Blood is something that should never be tainted—it’s a sacred communion. I’ve tasted blood today, felt it hot in my mouth while a heart ceased to beat beneath my touch. I’ve never felt anything so amazing in my life. It was primal. Incredible.”

Declan’s expression didn’t change, although I’m sure mine paled, as did Laura’s. She trembled next to me, her arms crossed over her chest.

“How many have you killed?” Declan asked. “Guards? Researchers?”

The eerie, wistful smiled returned. “All of them, I think. I lost count.”

“What about Jackson?”

“You care about his life. How interesting. Do you know he’s the reason behind all of this?”

He wasn’t making any sense to me, not that I was surprised about that.

Declan’s fists tightened at his sides. “What?”

“Jackson knew what happened to Victor’s wife and who was responsible. He offered to bring you in. Kill two birds with one stone. Victor wanted you dead. It was all he could do to not kill you the moment he first saw you yesterday.”

Declan’s stony expression shifted a little to something more raw. “Jackson sold me out. Sold us out.”

Lawrence nodded, his smile growing wider. “Don’t trust friends with huge gambling debts. One of many lessons for the day.”

The vampire hunter hadn’t made a great first impression on me, even less when he hit on me yesterday, but I’d been convinced he was trustworthy. Declan had assured me of that and I’d believed him. He’d been wrong. Jackson knowingly brought him here to be killed or tortured—with my blood.

The thought made me see red. I wanted to tear Jackson apart with my bare hands for betraying Declan.

Declan was a bit more reserved than I was. “How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

“You don’t. And you won’t ever know for sure. He’s dead—four vampires were gnawing on his bones last time I saw. I would have joined in, but I was already full.”

“Lawrence,” I managed to say through clenched teeth, my anger helping to push away a bit of my fear. “Enough of this. You need to—”

Lawrence stormed toward me so fast I barely saw it. When Declan blocked me, the vampire instead grabbed hold of Laura. She screamed.

“Let her go,” Declan snapped.

Lawrence searched her face as she cringed away from him. “You’re the one, aren’t you? You were with Susan when she died.”

Laura sucked in a breath, her eyes were red from crying. “S-Susan . . . yes, I was. Yesterday. It was h-horrible. I didn’t understand what was going on.”

His expression held so much pain it was difficult not to look away. “She was my wife.”

“She said your name. She whispered it . . . before—” A sob caught in Laura’s throat. “Oh God. I tried to help her, but there was nothing I could do.”

“Then it really is true.” Lawrence blinked hard, his black eyes shone with tears. “The last of my hope is gone.”

“No.” She shook her head. “There’s always hope for new beginnings. Everyone has to deal with horrible things in our lives, but we need to move past them and start again.”

“Start again. Even for something like me?”

“Everyone deserves a second chance.”

Lawrence exhaled deeply. “Leave now. Don’t look back.”

He let her go. She hesitated only a moment, looking at me and Declan, before she took off for the door, wrenching it open to give me a brief glimpse of the bright sunlight outside. It was painful to realize how close we were to safety.

Laura ran through the door, and it closed behind her. The light disappeared, leaving us again in shadows.

I was glad she was safe, but that hope she’d mentioned disappeared right along with her. I didn’t chance looking at Declan again; I kept my attention focused on the vampire who’d just surprised me by doing a kind thing, letting Laura safely escape.

It was a little bit encouraging.

“What about us?” I asked after a long moment of silence passed. “Can we leave, too?”

Lawrence studied the ground as if transfixed by it. “No.”

My stomach twisted. “Why?”

He raised his gaze to mine, and he didn’t look as rational as I’d hoped. “Because what’s in your veins kills my kind. Before, I thought it was for the best—that vampires were monsters and that I was one of the few that deserved to live. Funny how things change.”

When he pulled the silver stake he’d stolen earlier from Declan out of the back of his pants, every muscle in my body clenched with fear—for myself, for Declan.

This vampire wanted blood. He’d already consumed as much as he could drink, so now he just wanted to watch it spill.

“You need to stop this.” Declan’s voice was much more controlled than mine was. “It doesn’t have to end like this.”

“With death?” Lawrence studied the stake he clenched in his hand. “Everything ends with death. I would have done anything for my wife, but I wasn’t given that choice. Victor chose my destiny. This is all his fault.”

Declan looked at me, his expression tense. His eye moved to the door fifty yards away from where we stood. He was giving me a silent order. He wanted me to make a run for it while he held Lawrence back.

“Your wife wouldn’t have wanted this,” I said instead. “She loved you. She accepted you even when you changed. You tried to be human so you could stay together. She wouldn’t want to know you became a cold-blooded murderer. There’s still time to stop this.”

His gaze tracked to me. “I’m not human. The more I kill, the better it feels. The more right it feels.” He looked at Declan. “I’m sure you know how that is.”

Declan shook his head. “I’ve never taken pleasure in what I have to do.”

I’d tried to talk sense into Lawrence, but he wasn’t seeing reason. He’d embraced the monster within him. And that monster was the only one in the general vicinity with a very sharp, very deadly weapon in hand.

Lawrence was silent for a long moment. “I’ve seen you protect this woman. You’d kill for her—anyone who’d threaten her life. Am I right?”

“Would I kill for her?” Declan glared at him. “In a heartbeat.”

Lawrence didn’t look away. “Would you also die for her?”

Declan didn’t hesitate to answer. “Yes.”

My breath caught. Despite the fact that he couldn’t make love to me, I knew he put my life before his. I just hadn’t heard it stated so bluntly before. He wasn’t lying. This was the raw, honest truth. He’d kill for me. He’d die for me. In a way, it made things easier, since I felt the same way about him.

Lawrence nodded. “Then you know how I feel.”

“There’s a difference. Your wife is already dead. And nothing you do now will bring her back. The man responsible for her death is gone. You killed him. You had your revenge. It’s over.”

Lawrence was silent for so long I thought Declan had finally gotten through to him, shown him the futility of what he was doing here.

“You think this is over?” he finally said. “It’s not. It’s just begun.”

He turned toward me, and whatever life, whatever hope, I’d seen in those black eyes was gone. This was a man who had nothing to live for. Just rage and pain that he wanted to share.

He came at me fast, and I stumbled back from him, twisting my ankle and falling to the ground. I screamed just as Declan caught his arm, stopping the sharp stake only a few inches from it being a death blow to my heart. Declan’s expression was strained as he fought to pull Lawrence away from me.