Creature of Habit (Book 3) (9 page)

We slipped into an easy silence. I was terrified, but she had lulled me into a sense of calm. She plucked the red stone from around my neck and held it between her fingers.

“Do you know where this came from?”

“No.”

“The Melungeon gave it to Grant to give to you. It’s a gift from her family—from Laurel.”

“Why didn’t he give it to me?”

“He didn’t understand the meaning behind it. Why it’s so important.”

“What does it mean?” I asked, but she moved quickly, dropping the charm. Her small, firm hands gripped my shoulders and adjusted me to a sitting position. She pulled my face close to hers and whispered, "Do you really want it?"

“What?”

She looked over my shoulder and back at me and said, "I need to know, do you want it. For eternity?"

I understood this time. "Yes. I love him with all my heart. I want it and him."

She threw her arms around me tightly, pulling my head tightly into her shoulder. I thought we were hugging in celebration but instead I heard a noise behind me shake the room like a cannon, causing the boxes on the wall to jar out of their slots. Tiles from the ceiling fell around us like chunks of hail. Olivia gripped me tightly, shielding my head, but I was able peek towards the door. I gasped in surprise.

The heavy metal door had been flung against the wall with such force that it had almost ripped from its hinges, hanging bent and askew. Cracks spider-webbed up and down the plaster, trailing off at the edge of the metal boxes. Grant stood in the mangled doorway, disheveled and furious. His hair a tangled nest. His eyes wild and pained. He'd lost his shirt and was now in nothing but a sleeveless undershirt. The fabric and his defined arms coated in thick streaks of mud. His chest jutted forward, his jaw tense, and his hands were clenched into tight fists at this side.

His eyes connected with mine, relief mixed with the pain. Under his intense gaze, I waited as he assessed the damage on my head, wondering why he wasn't moving. Why wasn’t he coming to me, wrapping his arms around me?  He stood motionless in the door and that’s when I realized, he wasn't alone.

Chapter 12

Grant

I’d found the bank easily. It was old, not as old as I was, but enough so that the owners moved it to a more modern facility near the highway.  Clearly one for dramatics and flair, Caleb chose a building near the historic town square, blocks from my Asheville home. When I reached the two story brick building, I zeroed in for his voice. It took a moment, like tuning a transistor radio, but I finally found the correct frequency. I not only heard Caleb’s voice but those of two others. Three? Piece of cake. Prepared to end this standoff now, I scaled the back wall and slipped quietly in a smashed upper window clearly used by his group to enter and exit the building.

It only took a moment to find him downstairs, sitting behind an antique wooden desk, in a worn leather chair with his filthy feet propped up. His eyes narrowed before he saw me, sensing me. The two soldiers that flanked his sides growled as I made myself visible.

"We've been waiting for you," he greeted. His eyes roamed my body, and he quickly appraised the damage on my arm, fully healed now, the only remaining sign was an ugly scar. A flare lit behind his eyes. "I see one of my men took a piece with him."

"It was a parting gift. He would have been wiser to run," I said dryly. “Can we stop talking now and just get this over with? I'm sure Olivia is ready to go home."

Caleb laughed at my impatience and some sort of actual amusement crossed face. He stopped laughing and sighed dramatically. "We could, but there's a problem. I have two more of my men in the vault waiting with Sarah Olivia and if I don't return, they are under the instruction to destroy her."

I paused for a moment and listened, trying to confirm their whereabouts but I was unable to hear any other vampires or Olivia.

"Okay, then how do we do this? You want me to kill them now”—I nodded toward the vampires over his shoulders—"and then you lead me to her? I can wait. It really doesn't matter to me if I kill you now or later."

We stood across from one another in a hyped-up, brewing-for-months standoff. I didn’t need to read his mind to know he was considering his options. The men weren’t fledglings but they would be easy to pick off. Caleb wasn't interested in watching me fight them though. He wanted the final match up of his 'game' to be between the two of us.

Without taking his eyes off mine, he spoke to his minions, "Go to the entrances and keep a lookout for the others in his coven. I'm sure they'll be coming soon."

His men left without argument, and he gestured to the left behind the abandoned teller counters. "The vault is back there."

I moved quickly, and found myself in front of a huge, old, solid metal door. There was a new electronic keypad attached to the front and I turned and said, "Give me the code."

“You know the numbers,” he said. “The year you took Sarah Olivia away from me.”

I punched in the number and just as I pressed the last digit in he said, “Oh, I added another player. I hope you don’t mind.”

Fear gripped me. There was only one other person Caleb deemed worthy enough to play his game with us. I growled and placed both palms on the metal, using my hands and a foot for leverage. The door crashed into the wall and I fisted my hands preparing for the guards I expected when I entered. Instead I saw Olivia huddled over Amelia, her tiny arms protecting her body and head from my entrance. My eyes glanced over Olivia and shifted quickly to Amelia, who also had looked up and stared at me with wide blue eyes.

I was relieved to see her alive, unharmed other than the pulsating of blood from a wound. I searched her body and heard the sound of clotting blood coming from above her ear. She looked so small. So afraid. I wanted to run to her and soothe her distress although it was not possible at the moment. Olivia’s eyes seared into mine and Caleb was a mere two feet behind me, but all I could see was my mate, injured on the floor before me.

I'd found my girls, but this war was far from over.

Olivia spoke fast and furious. “Grant he wants you to choose…. me or Amelia. Don't do it! Amelia and I discussed it and she—“

I shut her out. She had given me enough to know where she was headed and there was no way she could convince me to sacrifice any of us—especially Amelia. I turned now and faced Caleb, ignoring the gleeful look on his face.

"Was that a surprise? I figured downstairs you hadn't realized." He looked over my shoulder. "Those Shifters were spectacular. They took down the remainder of my men, but not before I got my hands on your pet." He dared to smile at her over his shoulder, and I heard Olivia wrap her arms tighter around Amelia's body in reaction.

"She's not my pet," I answered, fury gripping my body. I assessed the room. If Olivia protected Amelia I would be able to take him. Not to mention he was lacking an arm, and that would give me an advantage.

"So I smell," he said dryly, wrinkling his nose. "Most vampires wouldn't want to announce such deviant behavior."

I ignored his taunts and waited for him to make the first move, to give me a signal. I heard Olivia shift up on her toes, prepared to pounce or defend as necessary. I held out my hand.
Wait
.

He knew me too well, he’d followed me for so long, there was no way he’d act first. I took the bait and moved quickly to the side, in an attempt to lure him away from the girls. My hope was to get him out of the room. He didn't respond, other than to shift slightly, although he grinned eagerly at my decision to 'play'. I lunged toward him, and he deftly ducked, causing the opposite reaction. He was now closer to the two. Realizing the change, Olivia hopped up on her feet and pressed Amelia, shaking with fear, behind her into the wall.

Caleb began to laugh quietly. "For someone so adept in fighting, you tend to make the wrong choices Grant, because you insist on protecting those around you instead of fighting for yourself, you leave holes and gaps in your defense."

He was right. Dead right. Amelia was a weakness. A distraction. She was the reason it took so long to get to this moment. I couldn’t protect her and kill Caleb at the same time. He knew it. I knew it. I glanced at Olivia.

She knew it.

“Do it.”

“He’s too weak, Sarah Olivia. Too pathetic. Too ‘in love’.” He made a gagging sound. “You thought you were a God, but did you live like one? With women to fuck whenever you wanted? Soldiers willing to die for you? Humans begging on their knees?”

He lunged forward, past me, and tossed Olivia out of the way. He stood over Amelia and said, “Kneel. Beg. Maybe I’ll let you fill an empty space in my bed. Show you what it’s like to be with a real God.”

“You wish,” my girl spat. God, I loved her so.

Rage filled my chest—bubbled up my throat. Blinded my senses. I rushed forward, slamming into him with full force and pinning him to the wall. His eyes bulged, under the pressure of my arm, pressed hard against his throat.  Olivia yanked Amelia toward the door.

"No!" he screamed through the pain. His eyes darkened, and a low growl rumbled in his chest.

“Go!” I shouted. “Go!”

“Grant!” Amelia cried and I knew that may be the last time I’d hear her voice. Olivia kept her promise and pulled away. I stole a glance at her face—I needed to see her once more. My girl with the golden hair. The blue eyes. Her precious beating heart.

Thump. Thump
.

I love you.

A sharp pain stabbed me in the gut, and my eyes snapped away from Amelia. I looked down and saw the hilt of a sliver blade—my dagger, lifted from my boot.

“Fuck you,” I said. He ripped the knife out of the wound, cutting against my organs before catapulting me across the narrow room with a sharp kick. My ears rang from the sound of my body crashing into the metal-faced wall. I landed with a loud crash, falling to the ground in a heap. Blood poured from my wound.

Caleb jumped high, over the girls’ heads, landing on the other side. He reached into Amelia's hair with his one hand, and tugged her down on her knees. Amelia yelped in pain as he jerked her head backward while Olivia lunged at him. He shook her loose and said slowly, "On your knees, Sarah Olivia, or I rip her head off right now."

With a glance in my direction, Olivia dropped to her knees obediently, where Caleb braced her legs with his feet. Keeping his hand twisted in Amelia's hair, he looked up at me with amusement. "It's your choice. Your sister or your mate?"

"Take me," I declared, pulling myself back into play.

Caleb rolled his eyes in annoyance. "I've considered it, but frankly this way is more fun. For me, at least. Now, pick."

I looked at the two across the room. Olivia's eyes were wild with anger while Amelia's face twisted in pain from Caleb gripping her hair so tightly. She looked exhausted, the whites of her eyes red from tears. Her expression defeated. She looked worse than after I killed Jenna. She looked weary.

I held my hand over my stomach, pushing against the wound. Blood seeped through my fingers and Amelia cried out in pain. Over me.

She never should have been here—dragged into this battle between demons. Even so, I spotted the vestiges of love buried beneath the fear in her pale blue eyes. The only human ones in the room. Realization took hold as I considered that Amelia was human and how all this began when I determined it was my duty to protect her. That had been my primary mission. I'd promised her all those months ago that I would keep her safe—no matter what.

Her life came first. Love came second.

Olivia must have seen the decision as I made it and she nodded in agreement from the corner of my eye. 

I nodded bitterly, realizing there was no way any of us would remain whole after this. If I saved Amelia and Caleb took Olivia it would be impossible for me to have my mate and for Elijah to have lost his. And Amelia would never forgive me or herself for sacrificing Olivia. Regardless, the decision would ruin each of our lives. Caleb knew this, and I could see it written all over his smug face.

Finally I spoke, gesturing to Olivia. "Take Olivia—she’s the one I stole from you. Take her back. I want my mate." The words rung hollow in the room, dead and flat. Caleb smiled in surprise, apparently pleased by my words.

"No!" Amelia gasped, jerking her head to look at me. She shook furiously and clasped a hand to Olivia's. Olivia looked me in the eye, ignoring Amelia's hand.

"You're letting Sarah Olivia go for the human?" He repeated my decision, pointing the blade—my blade—at me. I nodded in agreement, refusing to look either woman in the eye.

"Excellent choice. The one I would have made myself." He smiled in Olivia's direction.

My hands balled, forcing back my rage. His hand was still too tight in Amelia's hair. Her nose wrinkled in pain, and I saw tears brimming in her eyes.

"Hand her over," I demanded, wanting his filthy hands off her, but controlling myself from moving too quickly. I didn't trust him.

He nodded and released his grip, where she hovered in the air for a moment, her small hands reaching to soften her landing on the hard floor. I dove for her, trying to catch her before she hit the floor, blood spilling from my cut. My mind raced, moments ahead of my body, already feeling her soft, warm skin in my own, calculating how to get Olivia out of this situation. Just before her skin met mine I heard Olivia scream, "Grant, no!"

Before either of us could react physically, Caleb kicked Olivia from behind, thrusting her into my chest and hurling us both across the room where we hit the wall with a resounding thud. Pieces of plaster fell from the impact, showering over our heads, coating our faces in a fine layer of dust.

And then, he lunged for Amelia—my perfect, fragile Amelia—clamping his fingers around her frail neck. Caleb's eyes danced deviously, a satisfied grin placed on his face and with nothing more than a quick flick of his wrist, I heard the sickening crack of her spine echo through the room. The red on her necklace bounced one last time against her chest. In an instant, the life slipped from her eyes, the fear and shock turning hollow and weak, while her head slumped limply to the side.

"Amelia!" Olivia gasped from behind me.

No, no, no!
I was already up, lunging towards her and I caught her this time, cradling her neck before she tumbled to the ground. Focused on the lifeless body in my arms, I was barely able to comprehend the sound of Olivia battling with Caleb or Elijah's voice as he and the others entered the room, swooping down on Caleb in a violent rage. Instead I sat by Amelia, resting her head gently on the floor, as I whispered her name furiously in her ear, chanting it like a prayer.

Frantically, I ran my fingers down her neck, searching for her heartbeat, in a feeble attempt to comfort her and myself.

Thump.

…

Thump.

What I found was a soft, waning pulse under her paling skin. Fisting my hands in my hair, I stifled a wail and rested my head on her chest, so I could listen to the final beats of her heart instead of the skirmish around me.

"Take her," I heard whispered in my ear. "It was what she wanted. She truly wanted it. Take her. Make her your mate—for eternity."

I shook my head. "I don't want to condemn her to this life. I promised to protect her and failed."